The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was extradited to the United States in 2022, where he was imprisoned for drug trafficking and weapons possession
Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, has been released from a U.S. prison, according to online federal inmate records, after receiving a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump on drug charges.
Records show Hernández was released from the high-security unit at USP Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday.
Hernández was found guilty in March 2024 of conspiracy to import cocaine into the US and possession of machine guns. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
The US president said in a social media post on Friday that Hernández had been “treated very harshly and unfairly.”
In a social media post on Tuesday, Hernández’s wife, Ana García de Hernández, thanked Trump for the pardon and said her husband was now a free man.
Hernández, a member of the National Party of Honduras and the country’s president from 2014 to 2022, was extradited to the US in April 2022 to stand trial for heading a violent drug trafficking organization and helping to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the US.
During the trial, New York prosecutors claimed that Hernández ran the Central American country like a “narcostate” and accepted millions of dollars in bribes from drug traffickers to protect them from justice.
He was also ordered to pay an $8 million (£6 million) fine as part of his sentence.
Trump explained his reasons for granting the pardon when speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
He alleged that the investigation against Hernández was a “setup by the Biden administration,” referring to his predecessor in the White House.
“Basically, they said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country,” Trump said.
Hernández’s release comes at a time when Honduras is in a “technical tie” in the election of a new president.
As of Monday afternoon, just 515 votes separated right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura from his closest challenger, Salvador Nasralla, a former TV presenter running for the country’s centrist party.
On Friday, Trump criticized Nasralla, writing that he was “almost a communist.”
He described Asfura as someone who “defends democracy” and praised him for campaigning against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, with whom Trump has engaged in a war of words in recent months.
In turn, Nasralla promised to break relations with Venezuela if he wins the elections.
The Trump administration has accused left-wing President Maduro – whose re-election last year was considered illegitimate by many countries – of being the leader of a drug cartel.
The government stated that its efforts to combat drug trafficking justify the increased military presence in the Caribbean. The administration also carried out attacks on vessels it said were being used for smuggling — although some analysts described these actions as a way of putting pressure on Latin American leaders.
Honduras has been governed since 2022 by President Xiomara Castro, who has established close ties with Cuba and Venezuela.
Originally published by BBC News on 12/02/2025
Por Brandon Livesay
Additional reporting by Nadine Yousif
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2025/12/02/ex-presidente-hondurenho-libertado-da-prisao-apos-receber-indulto-de-trump/
