Trump Says He’ll Pardon Ex-Honduran President Serving 45 Years for Drug Trafficking

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

On Friday via Truth Social, President Donald Trump announced that he plans to pardon the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in U.S. federal prison on drug trafficking and weapons charges.

Hernández was arrested in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in February 2022 and was extradited to the U.S. in April 2022 to face charges in a New York federal court. U.S. prosecutors said Hernández governed Honduras as a “narco-state,” leveraging the presidency to help move more than 400 tons of cocaine toward the United States in exchange for millions in bribes from major traffickers, among them Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

A federal jury convicted him in March 2024 on three counts related to drug trafficking and firearms conspiracies. He was sentenced on June 26, 2024, to 45 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay an $8 million fine.

“I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly,” wrote Trump on Truth Social. “This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, when Honduras will be on its way to Great Political and Financial Success.”

This is the second time this week that Trump has expressed support for Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura, the Honduran presidential candidate of the conservative National Party, on Truth Social. A Wednesday post insisted that the two “can work together to fight the Narcocommunists, and bring needed aid to the people of Honduras.”

His Friday post continued, “VOTE FOR TITO ASFURA FOR PRESIDENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE HONDURAS GREAT AGAIN!”

Additionally, Trump promised that if Asfura doesn’t win this weekend’s election, “the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is.”