President Donald Trump has announced that he intends to pardon former Honduran leader Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving a forty five year sentence in the United States for cocaine smuggling and firearms offences. Trump revealed the plan in a social media message on Friday and claimed Hernández had been treated harshly and unfairly.
The declaration lands just days before Honduras heads into a closely watched general election and adds fresh political tension to a race already shaped by security concerns and long standing US influence in the region.
Hernández, who governed Honduras from 2014 until 2022 as a member of the National Party, was extradited to the United States in April 2022. Prosecutors accused him of supporting a violent cocaine trafficking network and helping move enormous quantities of the drug toward the United States. A jury in New York found him guilty in March 2024 and a federal judge later imposed the lengthy prison term.
Trump said on Friday that Hernández had been punished too severely. He did not provide details on when or how a pardon would be issued. The White House has not released further explanation.
Trump also used his post to endorse conservative candidate Nasry Tito Asfura ahead of Sunday’s election. Asfura, a former mayor of Tegucigalpa and leader of the National Party, is competing in a tight three way contest. Polling shows a close race between Asfura, Rixi Moncada of the left leaning Libre Party and Salvador Nasralla of the centrist Liberal Party.
Read Also: US Halts Asylum Rulings After DC Guard Killing
Trump criticised the latter two candidates. He described Nasralla as nearly communist and argued that his candidacy could divide opposition votes. He praised Asfura as a defender of democracy and applauded his criticism of Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro. Asfura has previously said he would reassess Honduras’s relationship with Venezuela.
Maduro’s government has faced sustained pressure from Washington. Many nations rejected his re election last year. The United States has accused Maduro of leading a narcotics organisation and cited this allegation when increasing military activity in the Caribbean. Since August, US forces have carried out strikes on boats they believe are used for drug smuggling.
Officials say more than eighty people have been killed during these maritime operations. Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of war, said the aim of what is known as Operation Southern Spear is to neutralise narcoterrorists. Legal experts have raised questions about the evidence behind the strikes and whether they meet international law standards.
Honduras, now governed by President Xiomara Castro, has strengthened ties with Cuba and Venezuela but has kept its security cooperation with the United States. The country continues to host an American military base that assists in operations against organised crime. Castro has also agreed to maintain a long standing extradition treaty that allowed Hernández to be sent to the United States.
