Trump to pardon ex-Honduras leader serving drug trafficking sentence in US

Donald Trump stated that he would grant a pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras who was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for drug and arms trafficking charges. "I will grant a complete and total pardon to former president Juan Orlando Hernández who has been, according to many people I respect greatly, treated very harshly and unfairly," Trump said on Friday in a message on Truth Social. In March of last year, Hernández was convicted by U.S. courts of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect cocaine shipments destined for the United States from traffickers he had publicly proclaimed to fight against. During the final arguments at the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwillig stated that Hernández had "paved a highway of cocaine to the United States." Hernández was sentenced last June and called his conviction unfair. He served two terms as the leader of the Central American nation of about 10 million people and was considered a key ally of the United States in Central America, particularly by the Trump administration. Trump's announcement regarding Hernández's pardon comes as the Republican leader positions himself as tough on drug issues. The Trump administration designated several drug cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations" and used allegations of a "war on drugs" to justify deadly airstrikes on vessels across the Caribbean and Pacific. These strikes prompted the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations to condemn the operations as extrajudicial executions. The message was part of a broader message from Trump supporting Tito Asfura for the presidency of Honduras in the upcoming elections, with Trump stating that the United States would support the country if he won. However, if Asfura loses the election this Sunday, Trump posted that "the United States will not throw good resources after bad, as a bad leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which one." Asfura's party forged a close partnership with Washington under Hernández, who governed from 2014 to 2022 and was arrested shortly after leaving office. Honduras has been governed since 2021 by Xiomara Castro, who has forged close ties with Cuba and Venezuela, two countries plagued by deep economic and human rights crises whose governments are viewed by the Trump administration as dictatorships and have been regularly criticized. Castro has taken a leftist stance but has maintained a pragmatic and even cooperative attitude in her relations with the Trump administration, and has received a visit from U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. The president even backed off her threats to end the Honduras extradition treaty and military cooperation with the United States. Under Castro, Honduras has also received its citizens expelled from the United States and has acted as a bridge for expelled Venezuelans who were later picked up by Venezuela in Honduras. Hondurans will head to the polls on Sunday to vote in an election that remains uncertain, with polls showing Asfura, the former mayor of the capital Tegucigalpa, virtually tied with former Defense Minister Rixi Moncada of the ruling leftist LIBRE party, and television host Salvador Nasralla of the centrist liberal party. Whichever candidate wins a simple majority on Sunday will govern Honduras from 2026 to 2030. Some political analysts fear that one or more candidates may claim victory. The Organization of American States and Washington have expressed concerns about the electoral process in Honduras and stated that they are closely monitoring the election.