President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. Hernández was convicted in 2024 on drug‑trafficking and weapons charges and handed a 45‑year prison term. Trump explained his decision on social media, saying “according to many people that I greatly respect,” Hernández was “treated very harshly and unfairly.”
Hernández’s conviction came after he was found in a U.S. court to have conspired to smuggle cocaine into America. The former leader, who governed Honduras for two terms, has been appealing his sentence while serving time at the Hazelton federal penitentiary in West Virginia.
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, Hernández’s wife and children gathered outside their home in Tegucigalpa, kneeling in prayer to thank God that their husband would soon return after nearly four years in U.S. custody. They had last year been taken from the same house by Honduran authorities and extradited to the United States. “He still didn’t know of this news and believe me, when we shared it his voice broke with emotion,” García said.
García thanked Trump, arguing that he had “corrected an injustice” and that Hernández’s prosecution was the result of a coordinated plot by drug traffickers and the “radical left” to punish the former president. She said they had not been given an exact date for his return, but that “we hope that in the coming days.”
Hernández’s lawyer, Renato C. Stabile, expressed gratitude for the pardon, saying that “a great injustice has been righted” and that the United States and Honduras will “look forward to President Hernández’s triumphant return.” Another attorney, Sabrina Shroff, declined to comment.
Trump’s post about the pardon was part of a larger show of support for Nasry “Tito” Asfura’s bid to become Honduras’ next president. Trump pledged U.S. backing for the country if Asfura wins, warning that if he loses the outcome could be “catastrophic” for Honduras and might expose it to influence from Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro. Asfura, who is running for office for the conservative National Party for a second time, has been a former mayor of Tegucigalpa and pledged to address the nation’s infrastructure needs, though he has faced, and denies, accusations of embezzling public funds.
Other contenders for the presidency include Rixi Moncada, the former finance and defense secretary now running for the Libre party, and Salvador Nasralla, a media personality making a fourth run as the Liberal Party’s candidate.
Trump has also intensified pressure on Maduro by ordering U.S. maritime strikes against suspected drug‑carrying vessels, expanding the naval presence in the Caribbean with assets like the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, and has not ruled out military or CIA action against Venezuela, while still mentioning that he is open to dialogue.
Outgoing Honduran president Xiomara Castro, who has leaned left but maintained a pragmatic stance toward the United States, has cooperated with U.S. officials and upheld extradition and military cooperation agreements. Under her administration, Honduras repatriated U.S. citizens and served as a transit point for Venezuelans returning home.
Argentina’s Javier Milei, a vocal Trump admirer, also endorsed Asfura’s candidacy on Friday, stating on X that “I fully support Tito Asfura, who is the candidate who best represents the opposition to the leftist tyrants who have destroyed Honduras.”
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