Trump Says He Will Pardon Ex-Honduran President Convicted by Jury in US Drug Case

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Nov. 28 that he is granting a full pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is currently serving a 45-year U.S. prison sentence for drug trafficking and firearms convictions after being convicted by a jury.

“I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Nov. 28.

Hernández, who served as president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022, was convicted by a Manhattan jury in March 2024 of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect cocaine shipments headed to the United States after vowing to fight drug traffickers. The jury handed down his sentence in June 2024, with Hernández still maintaining his innocence.

Trump’s pardon comes as he takes a hardline approach to drug trafficking, especially in regards to Venezuela, and as Honduras heads into a hotly contested presidential election on Nov. 30.

Trump also reaffirmed his support for conservative National Party candidate Nasry Asfura, former mayor of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Trump warned that U.S. aid could be cut if Asfura is not victorious.

“If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

While leading the country, Hernández ensured that the National Party had strong ties with Washington through security partnerships against drug trafficking. However, U.S. prosecutors said Hernández accepted bribes from cartels and ordered the Honduran military to secure a cocaine lab as well as drug shipments headed to the United States.

His brother, Tony Hernández, a former congressman, received a life sentence in a U.S. prison in 2021 for similar drug charges, with prosecutors calling a related forfeiture “blood money.”

Honduran election polls show Asfura nearly tied with the left-leaning LIBRE Party’s Rixi Moncada, a former defense minister, and centrist Liberal Party’s Salvador Nasralla, a television host. The winner, requiring a simple majority, would be in office from 2026 to 2030.

Current President Xiomara Castro assumed office in 2021 and has preferred left-leaning allies, such as Cuba and Venezuela. Trump has condemned the regimes as dictatorships. Castro’s administration also cut ties with Taiwan in 2023 as a gesture toward China, establishing an embassy in Beijing.

The Trump administration in July ended temporary protected status for about 76,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans in the United States, highlighting expired conditions from past calamities.

Reuters contributed to this report.