US President Donald Trump has declared that he will pardon the ex-president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking charges in a US court last year.
Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post on Friday, congratulating the former president on the pardon, stating he was treated very harshly and unfairly.
Hernández was found guilty in March 2024 of conspiring to import cocaine into the US and possessing machine guns, leading to a 45-year prison sentence.
Alongside the announcement, Trump expressed his support for candidate Tito Asfura in the upcoming general election in Honduras, marking a significant political gesture.
Hernández, who served as Honduras's president from 2014 to 2022, was extradited to the United States in April 2022 to stand trial for leading a violent drug trafficking conspiracy. His conviction by a New York jury two years later underscored the serious allegations against him.
Polls indicate a competitive situation ahead of the Honduran election, with Asfura, Rixi Moncada from the ruling leftist LIBRE Party, and Salvador Nasralla from the centrist Liberal Party as prominent candidates.
Trump criticized Moncada and Nasralla in his post, describing Nasralla as a “borderline Communist” and asserting that Nasralla's candidacy would only serve to dilute the vote between Asfura and Moncada.
Calling Asfura a champion of democracy and a fighter against Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro, Trump aligned himself with conservative forces in the region.
The context of the U.S. involvement in Honduras has been shaped by recent administrations. Since 2022, Honduras has been under the governance of President Xiomara Castro, who has aligned with leftist ideologies but has retained relations with the US, including adherence to an extradition treaty.
The U.S. has initiated counternarcotics operations in the region, targeting vessels suspected of drug trafficking, although legal scrutiny has been directed at the operations' legality and effectiveness.
