Former Honduran president released from prison after Trump pardon
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was released from federal prison after receiving a full pardon from former U.S. President Donald Trump.Hernandez, who served as Honduras’s president from 2014 to 2022, had been convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison by the Biden administration for conspiring to traffic over 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. Trump announced the pardon, describing Hernandez’s treatment as unfair and endorsing it as a correction of a “Biden setup.” Hernandez was released from the high-security USP Hazelton prison in West Virginia. Both Hernandez’s wife and daughter publicly expressed gratitude for the pardon, asserting his innocence and praising Trump’s decision. The pardon came amid a tightly contested Honduran presidential election, where Trump endorsed candidate Tito Asfura.
Former Honduran president released from prison after Trump pardon
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was released from federal prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump.
Hernandez, the two-term president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022, was sentenced to 45 years in prison under President Joe Biden’s Justice Department for conspiring to traffic over 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. Trump announced he would pardon Hernandez on Friday, and he was released on Monday.
“Additionally, 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 on Truth Social.
Hernandez was released from high-security prison USP Hazelton in Preston County, West Virginia, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records.
Hernandez’s wife, Ana Garcia de Hernandez, posted on X Tuesday morning, celebrating her husband’s release.
“After nearly four years of pain, waiting, and difficult trials, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump. Today we give thanks to God, because He is just and His timing is perfect. Thank you, Mr. President, for restoring our hope and for recognizing a truth that we always knew,” Ana Garcia de Hernandez said.
Daniela Hernández, the daughter of the former Honduran president, also celebrated Trump’s pardon of her father Monday.
“With the utmost gratitude, thank you, President Trump, (@realDonaldTrump) for correcting this grave injustice. May God bless your compassionate and just heart. Thank you to all the friends and family whose support and prayers made this possible. Our father, Juan Orlando Hernández, is an innocent man who will soon be reunited with those who love him,” Daniela Hernández wrote on X.
When asked on Sunday about his decision to pardon Hernandez, a convicted drug trafficker, Trump said Hondurans called the conviction a “Biden setup.”
Trump announced the pardon alongside endorsing Tito Asfura in the Honduran presidential election. The results between Asfura and Salvador Nasralla are currently a “technical tie,” according to CBS News.
TRUMP PINNED CONVICTION OF FORMER HONDURAN PRESIDENT FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING AS BIDEN SETUP
“Well, I was told — I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras, they said it was a Biden setup,” Trump said. “He was the president of the country. And they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country.”
Hernandez was extradited to the U.S. and arrested in 2022 after he left office. He was convicted in March 2024 after a jury trial and sentenced in June 2024.
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