Overview
- Juan Orlando Hernández was released from U.S. custody on December 1 after President Trump announced a pardon on November 28.
- Hernández had been convicted in U.S. federal court and given a 45-year sentence for participating in a network that moved hundreds of tonnes of cocaine to the United States.
- Prosecutors said he took millions in bribes from cartels, including the Sinaloa organization linked to Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and turned Honduras into a drug transit corridor.
- The decision conflicts with Trump’s stated hard line on narcotics as Washington carries out maritime and air operations targeting trafficking routes in the Caribbean, particularly around Venezuela.
- AFP reports Trump has leaned into Honduras’s election by backing National Party candidate Nasry Asfura, with the ongoing tally showing a close race against Salvador Nasralla, and Axios published a laudatory letter from Hernández that Spanish media suggested could have influenced the pardon.