Former Honduran leader Juan Orlando Hernández, who received a 45-year prison sentence last year for his involvement in a drug-trafficking scheme that transported hundreds of tonnes of cocaine to the United States, has been released from prison after receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate database, Hernández was released from U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday, and a bureau spokesperson confirmed this information on Tuesday.
His spouse, Ana García, expressed gratitude to Trump for the pardon through a post on the social media platform X early Tuesday morning.
“After nearly four years filled with pain, waiting, and numerous challenges, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández is BACK to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon given by President Donald Trump,” García wrote in her post.
She attached a screenshot of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons record confirming Hernández’s release.
Ana García, center, wife of the former Honduran president, is seen in Tegucigalpa on Friday. (Moises Castillo/The Associated Press)
When asked by reporters accompanying him on Air Force One about why he pardoned Hernández, Trump responded on Sunday.
“I was approached by Honduras — many people in Honduras,” Trump stated. “The people of Honduras genuinely believed he was framed, and it was a horrible situation.”
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Renato Stabile, Hernández’s attorney, mentioned in an email that he could not disclose the current whereabouts of the former president. He added that Hernández is relieved that the “ordeal” has concluded.
“On behalf of President Hernández and his family, I would like to express gratitude to President Trump for rectifying this injustice,” Stabile stated.
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Hernández was apprehended at the request of the United States in February 2022, shortly after the current president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, assumed office.
Two years later, he was sentenced to 45 years in a federal court in New York for accepting bribes from drug traffickers, allowing them to transport approximately 360 tonnes of cocaine through Honduras to the United States.
At the beginning of his trial in February 2024, a U.S. prosecutor alleged that Hernández had even boasted to drug dealers about their collaboration in pushing drugs “right up the noses of the gringos.”
Throughout the trial, Hernández insisted on his innocence, claiming he was being targeted by drug traffickers he had previously aided in extraditing to the U.S.
Protesters are seen outside a federal court in Manhattan, New York City on May 10, 2022, demonstrating against former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. (David R. Martin/The Associated Press)
In recent comments, Trump suggested that Hernández was potentially a victim of a “setup” by prosecutors in the U.S. Justice Department during Joe Biden’s administration, although the jury took less than two days to reach a unanimous verdict against the former president.
During sentencing, federal Judge P. Kevin Castel remarked that the punishment should act as a message to “well-educated, well-dressed” individuals who attain power and believe their position shields them from accountability for their actions.
Hernández presented himself as a champion in the fight against drug trafficking, collaborating with American authorities across three U.S. presidential terms to curb drug imports.
However, the judge noted that the evidence presented during the trial contradicted this portrayal and indicated that Hernández utilized “significant acting abilities” to create the impression that he was vehemently opposed to drug trafficking while using his nation’s police and military to safeguard the drug trade.
The ex-president’s brother had previously been convicted in an earlier trial for distributing 165 tonnes of cocaine and was ordered to forfeit $138.5 million in proceeds from his illegal drug activities.
Response from Honduran officials to the pardon
The decision has drawn criticism from Democrats in Washington, as Trump has cited the alleged influx of drugs into the U.S. as the legal basis for a series of military actions against vessels near Venezuela and in the eastern Pacific, resulting in over 80 fatalities since September 2.
Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia called Trump’s choice to pardon Hernández “shocking.”
“He led one of the largest criminal networks ever convicted in U.S. courts, and less than a year into his sentence, President Trump pardons him, implying that President Trump is unconcerned about drug trafficking,” Kaine stated on CBS’s Face the Nation.
Reactions from Republicans varied, with Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin expressing trust in Trump’s decision on CNN, while Florida congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, typically a strong supporter of Trump, stated she “would not have made that choice.”
Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy was more vocal in his disapproval on X.
“Why would we pardon this individual and simultaneously pursue [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro for drug trafficking into the United States? We should be locking up every drug trafficker! I don’t understand the rationale behind the pardon,” Cassidy tweeted over the weekend.
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Hernández’s swift return to Honduras is not guaranteed.
Right after Trump declared his plan to pardon Hernández, Honduras Attorney General Johel Zelaya stated on X that his office is mandated to pursue justice and combat impunity.
He did not clarify what potential charges Hernández might face in Honduras. Numerous corruption-related investigations were conducted during his two terms in office, but they did not culminate in any charges against him. President Castro, who oversaw Hernández’s arrest and extradition to the U.S., will remain in office until January.
Trump’s pledge to pardon came just days before Honduras’s presidential election, adding a new dynamic to the political race. Last week, Trump endorsed Nasry Asfura of the National Party.
The vote counting took place on Tuesday.