Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was released from a U.S. prison after being pardoned by President Trump for a drug trafficking conviction.
A member of Honduras’s National Party, Mr. Hernández served as the country’s president from 2014 to 2022.
The Biden Justice Department extradited him to the U.S. in April 2022 to stand trial. He was found guilty in March 2024 of possessing machine guns and conspiring to import cocaine to the U.S.
He was sentenced to 45 years in prison and to pay an $8 million fine.
During his trial, Mr. Hernández maintained his innocence.
Prosecutors said Mr. Hernández ran his country like a “narco-state,” accepting bribes from drug traffickers to protect them from the law.
He was released from a high-security prison in Hazelton, West Virginia, on Monday.
Mr. Hernández’s wife, Ana Garcia, thanked Mr. Trump for pardoning her husband.
“After nearly four years of pain, waiting, and difficult trials, my husband Juan Orlando Hernandez RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” Ms. Garcia said on social media.
While on Air Force One on Sunday, Mr. Trump said he pardoned Mr. Hernández because he was “asked by Honduras” who “thought he was set up, and it was a terrible thing.”
Mr. Trump announced his intention to pardon Mr. Hernández on Friday, saying the president was “treated very harshly and unfairly.”
The pardon, however, appeared to contradict Mr. Trump’s aggressive anti-drug trafficking campaign, which includes military strikes on drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.
“Why would we pardon this guy then go after Maduro for running drugs into the United States? Lock up every drug runner! Don’t understand why he is being pardoned,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, Louisiana Republican, said on social media.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been a focus of Mr. Trump’s ire. The U.S. amped up its military presence in the Caribbean and blew up alleged drug-smuggling boats.
Mr. Trump also threatened to launch military operations in Venezuela. He said that Mr. Maduro is a part of the Cartel de los Soles, which the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
After Mr. Trump announced the pardon, Honduras Attorney General Johel Zelaya said that his office was obligated to seek justice and put an end to impunity. However, he did not specify what charges Mr. Hernández could face in his home country.
Corruption-related investigations of his administration across two terms in office did result in charges against him.
Mr. Hernández is not guaranteed a quick return to Honduras.
President Xiomara Castro, who had Mr. Hernández arrested and extradited, will remain in office until January.
Meanwhile, the Honduran presidential race is tied between right-wing National Party candidate Nasry Asfura and Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla, a former TV host.
Mr. Trump has backed Mr. Asfura, whose party forged a close partnership with Washington under Mr. Hernández.
