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Trump Signals Pardon for Convicted Honduran Ex‑President Juan Orlando Hernández, Sparking Outcry

President Donald Trump has signaled he intends to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the former Honduran president convicted in the U.S. and serving a 45‑year sentence for facilitating large‑scale cocaine trafficking. The reported move has drawn fierce criticism from U.S. lawmakers and anti‑corruption advocates who say it undermines efforts to hold powerful traffickers and complicit officials accountable. Hernández’s family praised the reported pardon as a correction of an injustice; legal and geopolitical observers warn it could complicate U.S. policy on corruption and narcotics in Central America.

02:17 AM, 12/01/2025Politics
Trump Signals Pardon for Convicted Honduran Ex‑President Juan Orlando Hernández, Sparking Outcry

Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández — convicted in the United States and serving a 45‑year sentence for facilitating the movement of roughly 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras — may be spared additional prison time after President Donald Trump signaled his intention to pardon him.

Background

Hernández, 57, was arrested in Honduras in February 2022 at the request of U.S. authorities and later extradited to the United States. A federal jury convicted him following a high‑profile trial in which prosecutors said he used Honduras’ military and police to protect drug shipments and accepted millions in bribes that helped fuel his political rise from rural lawmaker to president.

U.S. prosecutors linked Hernández to cartel networks and cited testimony from cooperating traffickers who implicated him in a vast smuggling enterprise. His brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was sentenced to life in a U.S. prison after a separate conviction that included allegations of accepting a $1 million payment tied to cartel leaders.

Trial and Verdict

At trial, witnesses described violence associated with the drug trade; one cooperating defendant admitted to involvement in dozens of killings. A federal judge characterized Hernández as a "two‑faced politician hungry for power." Hernández has consistently denied wrongdoing, saying his prosecution was politically motivated and the result of retaliation by traffickers whose extraditions he had supported.

Reactions and Implications

President Trump criticized the prosecution, saying those he trusts told him Hernández was "treated very harshly and unfairly." The reported pardon intention drew sharp condemnation from critics who say it undermines efforts to combat narcotrafficking and to hold corrupt officials accountable.

"He was the leader of one of the largest criminal enterprises that has ever been subject to a conviction in U.S. courts," a U.S. senator and longtime Hernández critic said, calling the reported move "shocking."

Hernández’s family publicly thanked Trump after the announcement, calling the decision a correction of an injustice and alleging persecution by political opponents and criminal rivals.

Why it matters

A presidential pardon would have ramifications for U.S. policy on corruption and drug trafficking in Central America, potentially signaling a shift in priorities for Washington. It also arrives at a sensitive political moment in Honduras, where the country recently held national elections and continues to wrestle with corruption, violence, and migration pressures that are closely watched by U.S. policymakers.

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