Trump Pardons Former Honduras President Ahead of Critical Presidential Election

Hernandez was accused by US prosecutors of facilitating import of cocaine into the US

US President Donald Trump on Friday intervened dramatically in Honduran politics just days before the country's presidential election, pardoning a convicted former leader and threatening to withdraw US support if his preferred candidate loses.

Trump announced his decision to pardon ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted last year in a US court on drug trafficking charges and given a 45-year prison sentence.

Hernandez, who governed the Central American nation from 2014 to 2022, faced accusations from US prosecutors of enabling the importation of approximately 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.

He was extradited to the United States shortly after leaving office, following the election of current president, leftist Xiomara Castro.

Trump's remarkable announcement came via a social media post expressing support for Nasry Asfura, the candidate representing Hernandez's right-wing party in Honduras's upcoming presidential election on Sunday.

The US president had previously endorsed Asfura, but his latest statement went further by seemingly making future aid to Honduras conditional on Asfura's victory.

"If he doesn't win, 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," Trump declared on his Truth Social platform.

Trump made a similar threat prior to Argentina's election last month.

When contacted by AFP, Asfura denied any connections to Hernandez but welcomed Trump's renewed endorsement.

Hernandez "was president of the Republic, the party is not responsible for his personal actions," Asfura stated.

Asfura, a 67-year-old construction magnate and former mayor of the Honduran capital, is competing in a close three-way race against leftist lawyer Rixi Moncada and fellow right-wing TV host Salvador Nasralla.

On Friday, Trump accused Nasralla, 72, of running as a spoiler candidate to divert votes from Asfura.

Noting that Nasralla served as Castro's vice president before resigning, Trump said he "is now pretending to be an anti-Communist only for the purposes of splitting Asfura's vote."

Trump also criticized Moncada, Castro's political successor, as a "communist" and claimed her victory would benefit Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro "and his Narcoterrorists."

The pardoning of Hernandez comes despite a major US operation in Latin America, which Washington claims is aimed at stopping drug trafficking, in which over 80 people have been killed in strikes in international waters.

A New York jury convicted Hernandez in March 2024 of facilitating the smuggling of hundreds of tons of cocaine—primarily from Colombia and Venezuela—to the United States via Honduras since 2004, beginning long before his presidency.

Former US president Joe Biden's attorney general, Merrick Garland, stated after Hernandez's sentencing last year that he had "abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world."

In his Friday social media post, Trump stated that Hernandez "has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly," without providing further details.