The former Honduran president was freed on Tuesday, one day after receiving a pardon, according to Hernandez’s attorney, Renato Stabile.
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“President Trump has signed a full and unconditional pardon, effective December 1, 2025.” Stabile, a spokesperson for President Hernandez, announced his release early this morning in an email to Al Jazeera.
After serving more than three years in a US prison, Hernandez was released from a detention facility in West Virginia.
Hernandez was given a 45-year sentence last year for participating in a “one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world” for his involvement in a scheme to export cocaine to the US.
Trump made the announcement last week that he would pardon the former Honduran president by calling on the country’s citizens to support Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a member of Hernandez’s party.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump stated that “I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been treated very harshly and unfairly by many people who I respect.”
“This cannot be allowed to occur, especially now that Tito Asfura has won the election and Honduras is on its way to a great political and financial success,” he said.
Hernandez was found guilty of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from violent drug-trafficking groups over the course of 18 years, which helped him advance politically.
After serving his sentence last year, the US Justice Department claimed that Hernandez “abused his powerful positions and authority in Honduras to facilitate the import of more 400 tons of cocaine into the US.”
“Hernandez’s co-conspirators used machine guns and destructive weapons, including AK-47s, AR-15s, and grenade launchers, to protect their massive cocaine loads as they traveled across Honduras on their way to the United States, protect the money they earned from the eventual sale of this cocaine, and guard their drug-trafficking territory from rivals,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez argued during his trial that he had stepped up his crackdown on the drug trade and cited the US military’s cooperation with his administration. He also disputed Hernandez’ claim that he had taken bribes from drug dealers.
Trump’s pardon of Hernandez comes as his administration is launch deadly airstrikes against vessels it claims are carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, a campaign that critics claim violates both domestic and international law.
After accusing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading a drug cartel that the US labeled a “terrorist” group, Trump has also been making threats against him.
Washington has increased its military presence in the Caribbean in what it refers to as an anti-drug trafficking operation, which has sparked rumors about a possible conflict to overthrow Maduro.
The Trump administration’s policy toward Latin America has been criticized more recently for pardoning Hernandez.
Juan Orlando Hernandez, president, aided El Chapo and the Sinaloa Cartel in importing deadly drugs into the country. In a Monday social media post, Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto criticized “the drugs that killed Americans.”
Trump, however, allows this criminal to go free instead of standing up for the law enforcement who sent Hernandez to justice.
Elections were held on Sunday in Honduras, but the result is still too close to call, with Asfura and sports journalist Salvador Nasralla only having a few hundred votes each.
Trump is already doubting the outcome of the Honduran election, despite continuing to fabricate the fact that his loss to former US President Joe Biden in the 2020 election was the result of widespread fraud.
Source: Aljazeera
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