Trump plans to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. — President Donald Trump stated Friday that he can be pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for drug trafficking and weapons costs and sentenced to 45 years in jail.

The president defined his resolution on social media by posting that “according to many people that I greatly respect,” Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly.”

In March of final yr, Hernandez was convicted in U.S. courtroom of conspiring to import cocaine into the united statesA. He had served served two phrases because the chief of the Central American nation of roughly 10 million folks.

Hernandez has been interesting his conviction and serving time on the U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia.

A lawyer for Hernandez, Renato C. Stabile, expressed gratitude for Trump’s actions.

“A great injustice has been righted and we are so hopeful for the future partnership of the United States and Honduras,” Stabile stated. “Thank you President Trump for making sure that justice was served. We look forward to President Hernandez’s triumphant return to Honduras.”

A separate lawyer for Hernandez, Sabrina Shroff, declined remark.

The publish was a part of a broader message by Trump backing Nasry “Tito” Asfura for Honduras’ presidency, with Trump saying the U.S. can be supportive of the nation if he wins. But when Asfura loses the election this Sunday, Trump posted that “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.”

Asfura, 67, is making his second run for president for the conservative Nationwide Social gathering. He was mayor of Tegucigalpa and has pledged to resolve Honduras’ infrastructure wants. However he has beforehand been accused of embezzling public funds, allegations that he denies.

Along with Asfura, there are two different probably contenders for Honduras’ presidency: Rixi Moncada, who served because the finance and later protection secretary earlier than leaving to run for president for the incumbent democratic socialist Libre occasion, and Salvador Nasralla, a former tv character who’s making his fourth bid for the presidency, this time because the candidate for the Liberal Social gathering.

Trump has framed Honduras’ election as trial for democracy, suggesting in a separate Fact Social publish that if Asfura loses, the nation may go the way in which of Venezuela and fall below the affect of that nation’s chief, Nicolás Maduro.

Trump has sought to use strain on Maduro, ordering a sequence of strikes in opposition to boats suspected of carrying medicine, increase the U.S. navy presence within the Caribbean with warships together with the Navy’s most superior plane provider, the USS Gerald R. Ford.

The U.S. president has not dominated out taking navy motion or covert motion by the CIA in opposition to Venezuela, although he has additionally floated that he was open to talking with Maduro.

Outgoing Honduran President Xiomara Castro has leaned right into a leftist stance, however she has stored a practical and even cooperative perspective in coping with the U.S. administration and she or he has acquired visits from Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Military Gen. Laura Richardson, when she was the commander of U.S. Southern Command. The president has even backed off his threats to finish Honduras’ extradition treaty and navy cooperation with the U.S.

Underneath Castro, Honduras has additionally acquired its residents deported from the U.S. and acted as a bridge for deported Venezuelans who have been then picked up by Venezuela in Honduras.

Argentine President Javier Milei, a staunch admirer of Trump, additionally gave his assist to Asfura in Honduras on Friday.

“I fully support Tito Asfura, who is the candidate who best represents the opposition to the leftist tyrants who have destroyed Honduras,” the libertarian president stated on his X account.