Ex-Honduran president convicted of drug trafficking freed by Trump pardon
Iran Press TV
Wednesday, 03 December 2025 11:41 AM
Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted of running his country like a "narco-state" that funneled cocaine to the United States, has been released from federal prison after receiving a full pardon from US President Donald Trump, sparking outrage among American lawmakers and law enforcement officials.
Hernández, 57, who served as Honduras' president from 2014 to 2022, was sentenced to 45 years in US federal prison for importation and weapons charges after prosecutors accused him of helping move "at least 400 tons of cocaine to the United States" while shielding traffickers from prosecution.
He was convicted in March 2024, with prosecutors seeking a life sentence and a $10 million fine.
Trump issued the pardon Monday, claiming that Hernández had been "treated very harshly and unfairly."
He posted on the social media platform Truth Social, "CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON. MAKE HONDURAS GREAT AGAIN!"
According to Hernández's attorney, he is "greatly relieved to have this nightmare over with," and his wife described him as a victim of a "witch hunt", after he was granted a "Full and Complete Pardon" and was released from US Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia.
The controversial move by Trump sent a shockwave across the US, drawing immediate criticism from US lawmakers.
"Hernandez's conviction last year finally held him accountable for all the Honduran and American blood on his hands and sent an unequivocal message: No drug trafficker is above the law, not even former presidents," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"That is precisely why all Americans should be outraged by President Trump's pardoning of former president Hernandez," he stressed.
Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, among others, also reacted to the news, saying it reflected a "strange understanding" of the president's power to pardon.
"This is not an action by a president trying to keep America safe from narcotics," he said Tuesday on the Senate floor.
The Washington Post also, quoting an unnamed former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who worked on the case, called the Hernández's release "devastating."
"It means any attempt to work your investigations to the highest levels is meaningless," he added.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Trump blamed former president Joe Biden for Hernández's arrest and imprisonment, describing his trial as a "Biden setup."
Hernández's future in the US is uncertain, as he lacks a passport or legal status, though authorities may allow him to remain.
Hernández slept "in freedom" in New York on Monday night and on Tuesday was weighing where he should live in the coming months and years, said Luis Fernando Suazo, who served as Honduran ambassador to the US under Hernández, who was extradited to the US in 2022.
In Honduras, however, prosecutors could pursue new charges, but Hernández's team says any such actions would be "founded in political persecution."
According to prosecutors, Hernández started working with traffickers in 2004 during his time as a congressman.
They said that, later as president, he provided traffickers with sensitive US law enforcement information and deployed police and military forces to protect cocaine shipments headed to the United States.
Hernández "paved a cocaine superhighway to the United States," said Assistant US Attorney Jacob Gutwillig.
In a sentencing memo, the prosecutors wrote, "The defendant facilitated the importation of at least 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, causing untold damage in this country and leaving unimaginable suffering in its wake. The defendant engaged in this egregious conduct while publicly posing as an ally of the United States in its efforts to combat the importation of narcotics that destroy countless lives in this country. But behind closed doors, the defendant protected the very traffickers he vowed to pursue."
The court sentenced Hernández in June 2024 to 45 years in federal prison and an $8 million fine.
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