Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras, has been released from a U.S. prison, according to online federal inmate records, after he received a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump on drug charges.
Records show Hernandez was released from the USP Hazelton maximum security facility in West Virginia on Monday.
In March 2024, Hernandez was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States and possession of machine guns. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
The US president said Hernandez had been “treated very harshly and unfairly” in a social media post announcing the move on Friday.
On her social media accounts Tuesday, Hernandez's wife, Ana Garcia de Hernandez, thanked Trump for the pardon and said her husband is now a free man.
Hernandez, a member of the National Party of Honduras who served as the country's president from 2014 to 2022, was extradited to the United States in April 2022 to stand trial for masterminding a violent drug trafficking conspiracy and helping to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.
During the trial, New York prosecutors said Hernandez ran the Central American country as a “narco-state” and accepted millions of dollars in bribes from drug traffickers to protect them from the law.
He was also ordered to pay an $8 million (£6 million) fine as part of his sentence.
Trump explained the reason for his pardon while speaking with reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.
He said the investigation into Hernandez was “orchestrated by the Biden administration,” referring to his predecessor in the White House.
“They basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country,” Trump said.
Hernandez's release comes as Honduras finds itself trapped “technical tie” for the election of a new president.
As of Monday afternoon, just 515 votes separated right-wing candidate Nasri Asfura from his closest rival, Salvador Nasrallah, a former TV presenter who represents the country's center party.
On Friday, Trump criticized Nasrallah, writing that he was a “borderline communist.”
He described Asfura as “standing up for democracy” and praised him for his campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, with whom Trump has engaged in a war of words in recent months.
For his part, Nasrallah promised to sever ties with Venezuela if he wins.
The Trump administration has accused leftist Maduro, whose re-election last year was deemed illegitimate by many countries, of being the leader of a drug cartel.
He said his efforts to combat drug trafficking were justification for a military buildup in the Caribbean. The administration has also struck ships it says are being used for smuggling, although some analysts describe the move as a means of putting pressure on Latin American leaders.
Honduras has been ruled since 2022 by President Xiomara Castro, who has forged close ties with Cuba and Venezuela.
Additional reporting by Nadine Yousif
