Trump Announces a Pardon for Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, Imprisoned for Drug Trafficking

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández has only served one of the 45 years in prison to which he was sentenced for conspiring to introduce approximately 500,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States, according to the charges that were admitted and punished in court.

However, he may be on the verge of being released, after Donald Trump announced his decision to grant him "a full and complete pardon" because "according to many people whom I deeply respect," Hernández "has been treated very harshly and unfairly."

The decision comes at the same time that Trump is exerting strong pressure on the Venezuelan government, precisely under the premise of combating drug trafficking routes to the United States, which has led him to authorize the largest naval deployment of his country in the Caribbean and to bomb 21 alleged 'narco-boats,' resulting in 83 deaths.

Hernández was extradited to the United States shortly after completing his second term, accused of drug and arms trafficking, following an investigation that began in 2015.

According to the prosecution that charged him in a New York court, Honduras became a narco-state during his administration, functioning as a transit channel for drug shipments from Colombia and Venezuela.

His brother Tony was also tried two years earlier for drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison. During the trial, a witness (the former mayor of El Paraíso, Amílcar Alexander Ardón Soriano) claimed to have been present when drug trafficker Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán handed Tony a million dollars, intended for Juan Orlando Hernández's presidential campaign.

According to an expert consulted by the Honduran newspaper 'El Heraldo,' the scope and conditions of the amnesty announced by Trump are still unknown, but judging by the terms used by the Republican magnate in his post, it could be anticipated that the release process could be completed in one day.

The Argentine formula back in action

Trump notified about the pardon in the same post on the Truth Social network where he promoted the option of Tito Asfura, the National Party candidate to which Hernández also belongs, ahead of the presidential elections on November 30.

"If he doesn't win, the United States will not spend any more money, because a wrong leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country," Trump added in the same post.

This is a repetition of the formula he used during the midterm legislative elections in Argentina, when he conditioned a promised aid package to that country, stating that it would only be executed if candidates aligned with libertarian Javier Milei won.

Those elections ended with an unexpected wide victory for La Libertad Avanza and its allied factions, just weeks after being overwhelmed in the provincial legislative elections in Buenos Aires by Peronism.

Protection for the "looter of the State"

President Xiomara Castro, who has maintained a pragmatic cooperative relationship with the United States despite her leftist inclination, avoided directly responding to the announcement of the pardon for Hernández and the pressures in favor of Asfura, but did state in a post on X that "Honduras made it clear that our sovereignty is not for sale or negotiation."

Castro did not directly mention her party's candidate, Rixi Moncada, but concluded her statement with a request that "they do not forget what we are: we are resistance."

Her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, also reacted to Trump's words, asserting that the U.S. president "protects the looter of the State" and "orders votes" for the "direct heir of the narco-regime," referring to Asfura.

The candidate from Castro and Zelaya's Libre party, Moncada, also did not directly mention Trump, but pointed out that "today from abroad they want to revive criminals and stop the process of liberation."

The pardon was also rejected by Democratic legislator from Texas Joaquín Castro, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who reminded that Hernández is "responsible for the deaths of countless American citizens."

"Don't tell me that Trump is killing people on boats in the Caribbean to stop drug trafficking," Castro questioned.

Hernández's wife, Ana García Carías, recounted that the former president's "voice broke with emotion" when she notified him about Trump's decision, and one of his lawyers, Renato C. Stabile, celebrated that "a great injustice has been corrected."

With AP, EFE, and local media.