A Guatemalan criminal court sentenced Colombian Libia Vernaza to 12 uncommutable years in prison for drug trafficking when she tried to bring 11.5 kilos of cocaine into the country in her luggage in 2021, the Prosecutor’s Office reported.
The Prosecutor’s Office for Drug Crimes achieved the conviction “based on the evidence presented” during the oral and public trial, said a spokesperson for the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office), María José Mansilla.
In addition, the court in the capital imposed a fine of 50,000 quetzales (about 6,500 dollars) against the South American, the official explained.
Vernaza, convicted of the crime of international drug transit, was arrested on June 7, 2021 at the La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City when she tried to enter 11.5 kilos of cocaine hidden among the clothes inside her travel suitcase. .
The court also ruled that the Colombian “has to be expelled from the national territory after serving the sentence” in a prison in this Central American country.
Guatemala, like the rest of Central America, is used as a bridge for the transit of drugs to Mexico and the United States, according to authorities.
In 2022 Guatemala seized 5,900 kilos of cocaine, almost half the previous year when they seized 11,011 kilos, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.