Former Honduras president freed after Trump pardon

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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation that brought hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States, has been released from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump, officials confirmed Tuesday.

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The U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate website reported that Hernandez was released from Hazelton U.S. Prison in West Virginia on Monday, and a bureau spokesman confirmed his release Tuesday.

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His wife Ana Garcia thanked Trump for pardoning Hernandez via social platform X early Tuesday.

“After nearly four years of pain, waiting and difficult trials, my husband Juan Orlando Hernandez is RETURNED as a free man thanks to a presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” Garcia said in a statement. She included a photo of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons list on Hernandez indicating his release.

On Sunday, reporters traveling with him on Air Force One asked Trump why he pardoned Hernandez.

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“I’ve been asked in Honduras, by a lot of Hondurans,” Trump said.

“The people of Honduras really thought they were being framed, and it was terrible,” he said.

“Basically, they said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a set-up by the Biden administration,” Trump said. “And I looked at the facts and agreed with them.”

Hernandez's lawyer, Renato Stabile, said in an emailed statement that he could not provide the former president's current whereabouts. He added that Hernandez was glad the “ordeal” was over.

“On behalf of President Hernandez and his family, I would like to thank President Trump for righting this injustice,” Stabile said.

Hernandez was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, a few weeks after current President Xiomara Castro took office.

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Two years later, Hernandez was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a New York federal courtroom for accepting bribes from drug traffickers so they could safely move about 400 tons (360 metric tons) of cocaine north through Honduras into the United States.

Hernandez has maintained throughout that he is innocent and the victim of retaliation by drug traffickers he helped extradite to the United States.

During sentencing, federal Judge P. Kevin Castel said the punishment should serve as a warning to “well-educated, well-dressed” people who rise to power and think their status protects them from justice when they do wrong.

Hernandez has portrayed himself as a hero of the anti-drug movement, who has teamed up with US authorities under three US presidential administrations to reduce drug imports.

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But the judge said trial evidence proved otherwise and that Hernandez used “considerable acting skills” to create the impression that he was strongly opposed to drug trafficking, while he deployed his country's police and army to protect the drug trade.

Hernandez is not guaranteed a quick return to Honduras.

Immediately after Trump announced his intention to pardon Hernandez, Honduran Attorney General Joel Zelaya said via X that his office has a responsibility to seek justice and end impunity.

He did not specify what charges Hernandez could face in Honduras. During his two terms in office, there were various investigations related to corruption that did not result in charges being brought against him. Castro, who oversaw Hernandez's arrest and extradition to the United States, will remain in his post until January.

The pardon promised by Trump days before Honduras' presidential election brought a new element to the fight that some said would help his National Party candidate Nasri Asfura during Tuesday's vote count.

– Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey. Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, D.C., contributed.

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