US President Donald Trump said on Friday (local time) that he would pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the former Honduran president who was convicted in 2024 of drug and arms trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Trump announced his decision on social media, posting that “according to many people I respect very much,” Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly.”
Who is Juan Orlando Hernández? What are the charges against him?
In March 2024, Hernández was convicted in a US court of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States after serving two terms as president of Honduras, a Central American nation of approximately 10 million people.
He appealed the sentence while serving his sentence at Hazelton, West Virginia.
Read also | Make Money, Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
Following Trump’s pardon announcement, Hernández’s wife and children gathered on the steps of their Tegucigalpa home, kneeling in prayer and giving thanks for his return after nearly four years apart. This was the same residence from which Honduran authorities expelled him in 2022, shortly after he left office, before extraditing him to the US for trial.
Ana García, center, wife of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, and his daughter Daniela, left, and Isabela raise their fists in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would pardon Hernández, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence for aiding the importation of cocaine into the United States. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)(AP)
García said they were just able to talk to Hernández and tell him the news. García thanked Trump, saying that Trump had righted the injustice, and claimed that Hernández’s prosecution was a coordinated plot by drug traffickers and the “radical left” to take revenge on the former president.
She said they had not been told exactly when Hernández would return, but said “we hope in the coming days.”
Hernandez’s lawyer, Renato C. Stabile, expressed gratitude for Trump’s action.
“A great injustice has been righted and we are hopeful for a future partnership between the United States and Honduras,” Stabile said. “Thank you President Trump for making sure justice was served. We look forward to President Hernandez’s triumphant return to Honduras.”
Read also | Not drugs, oil ‘at the heart’ of US pressure on Venezuela: Colombian president
The post was part of a broader message from Trump, who endorsed Nasry “Tito” Asfura for the presidency of Honduras, with Trump saying the US would support the country if he won. However, if Asfura loses the election this Sunday, Trump said “the United States will not throw good money after bad because a bad leader can only bring disaster to a country, no matter which country it is.”
Asfura (67) is running for president for the second time for the conservative National Party. He was the mayor of Tegucigalpa and committed to solving the infrastructure needs of Honduras. However, he was previously accused of embezzlement of public funds, which he denies.
Besides Asfura, there are two other likely candidates for the Honduran presidency: Rixi Moncada, who served as finance minister and later defense minister before leaving to run for president for the incumbent Libre Democratic Socialist Party, and Salvador Nasralla, a former TV personality who is running for the presidency for the fourth time, this time as a candidate for the Liberal Party.
What did Trump say?
Trump has framed Honduras’ election as a trial for democracy and, in a separate Truth Social post, suggested that if Asfura loses, the country could go the way of Venezuela and fall under the influence of that country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Outgoing Honduran President Xiomara Castro has maintained a leftist political stance while taking a pragmatic and cooperative approach to the US administration. It hosted visits from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and a U.S. Army general, the AP reported.
Laura Richardson, former commander of the US Southern Command, and backed down on earlier threats to end the Honduran extradition treaty and military cooperation with the United States. Under her leadership, Honduras also managed the return of its citizens deported from the US and served as a transit point for deported Venezuelans who were subsequently taken to Venezuela.
Argentine President Javier Milei, a staunch Trump admirer, also supported Asfura in Honduras on Friday.
“I fully support Tito Asfura, who is the candidate who best represents the opposition to the left-wing tyrants who have destroyed Honduras,” the libertarian president said on his X account.
