US President Donald Trump on Friday expressed his intention to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison, in 2024.
Why is Trump pardoning Hernandez?
The president explained his decision by posting on social media that “according to many people whom I respect greatly,” Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly.”
Trump’s announcement of pardoning Hernandez came days before the country’s presidential election and had a deep impact on the country’s preferred politics, as the US President had also threatened to cut off US support if his candidate lost.
In his social media posts, Trump on Sunday endorsed Nasri Asfura, a candidate from Hernandez’s right-wing party in Honduras’ presidential election.
Trump has thrown his weight behind Asfura before, but his latest comments went a step further, suggesting that future aid to Honduras depends on Asfura’s victory.
“If he doesn’t win, the United States will not throw good money after bad money, because a wrong leader can only bring disastrous consequences to a country, no matter what country it is,” Trump said on his Truth social platform.
Asfura has denied any ties to Hernandez but celebrated Trump’s re-endorsement.
What was Hernandez convicted of?
Hernández led Honduras from 2014 to 2022. In March last year, Hernandez was accused by US prosecutors of being involved in the importation of approximately 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.
He was extradited to the US just weeks after leaving office, when Honduras’s current president, leftist Xiomara Castro, took office.
Hernandez is appealing his conviction and serving time at the U.S. Penitentiary in Hazleton, West Virginia.
Hernandez, a convicted drug smuggler, received a pardon from Trump after the Trump administration attacked alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean near Venezuela. Democrats and legal experts have called the strikes illegal.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery