Trump Announces Pardon for Former Honduran President Hernández, Sentenced to 45 Years in the U.S. on Drug Trafficking Convictions
On November 28, 2025, President Donald J. Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that he would be granting a "Full and Complete Pardon" to former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. Trump wrote that, according to many people he greatly respects, Hernández had been "treated very harshly and unfairly," and that "this cannot be allowed to happen."
The post also addressed the Honduran presidential election to be held two days later. Trump publicly backed Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the candidate of Hernández's National Party, saying that if Asfura won the presidency, "because the United States has so much confidence in him, his Policies, and what he will do for the Great People of Honduras, we will be very supportive." Trump also urged voters to vote for Asfura for president and offered "congratulations to Juan Orlando Hernández on your upcoming pardon."
Hernández served as president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, he and his co-conspirators trafficked more than 400 tons of U.S.-bound cocaine through Honduras between 2004 and 2022. In March 2024, a federal jury in New York convicted him of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related firearms offenses, and in June 2024 he was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Trump's post was phrased as an intention to grant the pardon, and the announcement came just two days before Hondurans voted in the presidential election.
Source: Congressional Research Service
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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