Overview
- Attorney General Johel Zelaya directed the ATIC and urged INTERPOL to execute an international arrest order for Hernández on money laundering and fraud charges.
- The warrant, issued in 2023 by a Honduran Supreme Court judge, stems from the Pandora II probe alleging diversion of about 288 million lempiras and at least 62 million to Hernández’s 2013 campaign.
- Hernández was released in the United States on December 1 after a full pardon by President Donald Trump, which vacated a 45-year sentence for facilitating roughly 400 tonnes of cocaine to the U.S.; he thanked Trump and claimed a political conspiracy.
- Honduran anti-corruption officials told CNN the order has been with Security and INTERPOL since September 2023 and signaled they would seek extradition if Hernández does not return to Honduras.
- Cuba’s foreign minister denounced the pardon as proof the U.S. drug war is a farce, while analysts pointed to lethal U.S. maritime crackdowns and a string of drug-related clemencies as contradictory; the White House argued the pardon corrected Justice Department errors.