Ex-Honduras president freed after Trump pardon
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras —Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump, his wife announced on Tuesday.
The US Bureau of Prisons inmate website showed that Hernández was released from US Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday and a spokesperson for the bureau on Tuesday confirmed his release.
His wife Ana García thanked Trump for pardoning Hernández via the social platform X early Tuesday.
‘Free man’
“After almost four years of pain, of waiting and difficult challenges, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” García’s post said. She included a picture of the US Bureau of Prisons listing for Hernández indicating his release.
Hernández was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, weeks after handing over power to current President Xiomara Castro.
‘Innocent’
Two years later, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a New York federal courtroom for taking bribes from drug traffickers so they could safely move some 400 tons of cocaine north through Honduras to the United States.
Hernández maintained throughout that he was innocent and the victim of revenge by drug traffickers he had helped extradite to the United States.
On Sunday, Trump was asked about why he pardoned Hernandez by reporters traveling with him on Air Force One.
