In a move that immediately sent shockwaves through the foreign policy establishment, President Donald Trump confirmed Friday on Truth Social that he intends to issue a full pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. Hernández, who is currently serving a 45-year sentence in a U.S. federal prison, was convicted of drug trafficking and weapons charges—yet Trump says the case was mishandled and politically tainted.
Hernández was taken into custody in Tegucigalpa back in February 2022 and handed over to U.S. authorities two months later following a highly publicized extradition. Once in New York, federal prosecutors accused him of turning Honduras into what they described as a “narco-state,” claiming he used presidential power to assist cartels moving enormous amounts of cocaine into the United States. According to prosecutors, he accepted multimillion-dollar bribes from top drug traffickers, including the infamous Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
A New York jury found Hernández guilty in March 2024 on drug-trafficking and firearms conspiracy charges. The sentencing followed on June 26, 2024, when he received 45 years behind bars, five years of supervised release, and an $8 million fine—an unusually harsh penalty for a former head of state.
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