Former President Donald Trump has announced that he plans to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in the United States on drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. The announcement comes as Trump openly backs a conservative candidate in Honduras' upcoming presidential election, and as Hernández’s lawyer hails the potential pardon as a step toward correcting what he calls an injustice.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has said he intends to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras who is serving a lengthy U.S. prison sentence on drug trafficking charges.
Speaking on Friday in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump told supporters he plans to grant clemency to Hernández, who in March 2024 was convicted in a U.S. federal court of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related weapons offenses. The former Honduran leader was later sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Hernández, who served two terms as president of the Central American nation of roughly 10 million people, is being held at the U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, while he appeals his conviction, according to NPR.
Trump expanded on his reasoning in a post on social media, saying that, "according to many people that I greatly respect," Hernández had been treated "very harshly and unfairly." NPR reports that Trump’s announcement coincides with his endorsement of Nasry "Tito" Asfura, a conservative candidate from Honduras’ National Party, in the country’s presidential election scheduled for Sunday.
Asfura, a former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, has campaigned on tackling infrastructure and public works problems. He has faced past embezzlement allegations, which he has denied.
Other prominent contenders in the race include Rixi Moncada of the governing Libre party, described by NPR as a former finance and defense official, and Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, a well-known television presenter mounting his fourth presidential bid.
Trump has framed the Honduran vote as a test for the country’s democratic direction, warning that a defeat for Asfura could push Honduras onto a trajectory similar to that of Venezuela under President Nicolás Maduro. In his remarks, he pointed to U.S. actions against Maduro’s government, including operations targeting suspected drug-smuggling vessels and the deployment of additional military assets in the Caribbean. He has not ruled out the possibility of future U.S. intelligence or military measures while also signaling that he would be open to talks with Maduro, NPR reports.
Hernández’s attorney Renato C. Stabile welcomed Trump’s announcement. NPR quotes him as saying that a grave injustice has been addressed and expressing hope for a renewed partnership between the United States and Honduras, while thanking Trump and looking ahead to Hernández’s eventual return home. Another member of the legal team, Sabrina Shroff, declined to comment.
Outgoing Honduran President Xiomara Castro, a leftist who took office in 2022, has nonetheless kept cooperative ties with Washington, including by accepting deported Honduran nationals and facilitating the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants, according to NPR’s reporting.
Argentine President Javier Milei has also weighed in on the Honduran race. In a post on X, he voiced his support for Asfura, describing him as the candidate who best represents opposition to leftist forces Milei blames for the country’s political and economic troubles.
