A former Guatemalan congressman has received an 18-year prison sentence for participating in an international drug trafficking scheme, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin, Jr. of the Eastern District of Texas.
Jose Armando Ubico Aguilar, a former high-ranking official in the Republic of Guatemala, has admitted his involvement in an international drug trafficking conspiracy. On February 11, 2025, he was handed a 216-month prison sentence by U.S. District Judge Michael Truncale.
Ubico Aguilar was an active member of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala from 2016 to 2024, as revealed in the court documents. During his tenure, he held multiple roles, including being elected as a Deputy and serving as the President of the National Defense Committee of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala from 2018 to 2023.
“The sentencing of this corrupt Guatemalan official who brokered and facilitated cocaine shipments into the United States while betraying his country through his partnerships with known drug traffickers and other corrupt officials shows the commitment of the Eastern District of Texas United States Attorney’s Office to identify, disrupt, and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin, Jr. “I am grateful to our law enforcement partners who worked tirelessly to ensure that Ubico Aguilar will no longer be allowed to hide behind his position of power.”
“The sentencing of this corrupt official who brokered and facilitated cocaine shipments into the United States sends a message to Transnational Criminal Organizations across the world that they will be held responsible for the poison they distribute into the United States,” said Dallas DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. “This sentence reflects our continued resolve to partner with our international law-enforcement counterparts to fight greed, violence, and public corruption.”
Ubico Aguilar was indicted on March 3, 2021, by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas for federal drug trafficking violations. In May 2024, after arriving in the United States, Ubico Aguilar pleaded guilty. During his plea hearing, he confessed to his involvement in the conspiracy. This included relaying drug-related information and U.S. currency to another Guatemalan official on behalf of an international drug trafficker. As a result of these actions, at least 450 kilograms of cocaine were safely transported through Guatemala for distribution in the United States.
This initiative is a component of an operation conducted by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). The OCDETF employs a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most influential criminal organizations that pose a threat to the United States. For more details on the OCDETF Program, visit their official website at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
The North Texas Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) Strike Force Group Two, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Division, the DEA’s Guatemala City Country Office, and the DEA’s San Jose (Costa Rica) Country Office, the FBI’s Dallas Field Office, the Homeland Security Investigation’s Dallas and Guatemala Field Offices, the U.S. Marshals Service’s Dallas Field Office, and Customs and Border Protection’s San Diego Field Office collaborated to investigate this case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs of the Department’s Criminal Division also played a significant role in securing the surrender of Ubico Aguilar.
