Donald Trump has said that he will pardon the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking charges in a US court last year.
The US president indicated that Hernández had been 'treated very harshly and unfairly' in a social media post announcing the move on Friday.
Hernández was found guilty in March 2024 of conspiring to import cocaine into the US, as well as possessing machine guns, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Trump also expressed support for conservative presidential candidate Nasry 'Tito' Asfura in the upcoming Honduran general election, scheduled for Sunday.
Hernández, affiliated with the National Party, served as Honduras's president from 2014 to 2022 and was extradited to the US in April 2022 to face trial for running a violent drug trafficking conspiracy and aiding the smuggling of hundreds of tons of cocaine into the US. His conviction followed a trial by a New York jury in early 2024.
Current polls suggest a tight race among candidates, including Asfura, the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, a prominent figure in the conservative National Party, alongside Rixi Moncada from the ruling left-wing Libre Party, and Salvador Nasralla from the centrist Liberal Party.
On Friday, Trump criticized Moncada and Nasralla, labeling Nasralla as 'a borderline Communist' and asserting that he simply aimed to split votes between Moncada and Asfura.
Describing Asfura as a champion of democracy, Trump lauded him for his stance against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a leader Trump has clashed with recently.
Nasralla has committed to severing ties with Venezuela if elected, amidst accusations from the Trump administration that Maduro is synonymous with a drug cartel.
Honduras, under the presidency of Xiomara Castro since 2022, has maintained a cooperative relationship with the US, continuing an extradition treaty and hosting a US military base that targets transnational organized crime.
Since August, US operations against drug trafficking have resulted in over 80 fatalities involving their strikes on suspected narcotic transport vessels. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has identified 'Operation Southern Spear' as an effort to eradicate 'narcoterrorists', although legal experts are raising concerns over the legality of these strikes, citing insufficient evidence of drug transportation by the targets.
