Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández Pardoned by Trump, Released from US Prison

Juan Orlando Hernández, the former President of Honduras, has been released from a United States federal prison following a pardon issued by US President Donald Trump for drug-related convictions. Online federal inmate records indicate Hernández departed the high-security USP Hazelton facility in West Virginia on Monday.

Hernández was convicted in March 2024 on charges of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and possessing machine guns. He had been sentenced to a 45-year prison term and ordered to pay an $8 million fine.

President Trump announced the pardon in a social media post on Friday, stating that Hernández had been “treated very harshly and unfairly.” Speaking later to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump further elaborated, claiming the investigation into Hernández was a “Biden administration set up.” He added, “They basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country.”

Ana García de Hernández, the former president’s wife, publicly thanked President Trump on social media Tuesday, confirming her husband’s freedom. Millenium TV recalls that Hernández, a prominent member of Honduras’s National Party, served as president from 2014 to 2022. He was extradited to the US in April 2022 to face trial for allegedly orchestrating a violent drug trafficking conspiracy and facilitating the smuggling of vast quantities of cocaine into the US. During his trial, New York prosecutors asserted that Hernández operated the Central American nation as a “narco-state,” accepting millions in bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for protection.

The timing of Hernández’s release coincides with a highly contested presidential election in Honduras, currently locked in what has been described as a “technical tie.” As of Monday afternoon, a mere 515 votes separated right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura from his closest competitor, Salvador Nasralla, a former television host representing the country’s centrist party.

President Trump also weighed in on the Honduran election on Friday, characterizing Nasralla as “a borderline Communist.” Conversely, he commended Asfura for “standing up for democracy” and for his campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, with whom Trump has engaged in public disputes. Nasralla, for his part, has pledged to sever ties with Venezuela should he win the presidency.

The Trump administration has previously accused the left-leaning Maduro, whose re-election was widely deemed illegitimate, of leading a drug cartel. The administration has cited its counter-drug trafficking efforts as a justification for a military buildup in the Caribbean and has conducted strikes on vessels believed to be involved in smuggling. Honduras has been governed since 2022 by President Xiomara Castro, who has cultivated close relationships with Cuba and Venezuela.