WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he plans to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving a 45-year federal sentence for conspiring to traffic more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States and for related weapons offenses.
“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,” Trump wrote on social media.
Hernández, a two-term president who was in office just weeks before his extradition to the U.S. in April 2022, was convicted after a three-week jury trial.
At the time, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Hernández “abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world,” adding that people in both Honduras and the United States “bore the consequences.”
Prosecutors say Hernández spent years positioning himself at the center of a massive cocaine-smuggling network. According to court documents, he used his political influence to protect traffickers as they moved enormous shipments of cocaine through Honduras. His co-conspirators were armed with machine guns and other military-style weapons — including AK-47s, AR-15s, and grenade launchers — to protect drugs, profits, and their territory.
Investigators say Hernández received millions of dollars in bribes from some of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, using the money to strengthen his political career. In return, he provided protection that allowed traffickers to “move mountains of cocaine,” fueling violence that helped make Honduras one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
“Hernández had every opportunity to affect positive change for his country,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York after sentencing. “Instead, Hernández helped to facilitate the importation of an almost unfathomable 400 tons of cocaine to this country: billions of individual doses sent to the United States with the protection and support of the former president of Honduras.”
In his post, Trump argued that Hernández must not be “treated unfairly,” especially if candidate Tito Asfura wins the current presidential election in Honduras.
“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. 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!” Trump wrote.
