Former Honduran president Hernández expresses gratitude to Trump in his first message since being released

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras Juan Orlando Hernndez, the ex-president of Honduras, publicly expressed his gratitude to former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday after being pardoned, marking his first statement since leaving a U.S. prison.

Hernndez had served one year of a 45-year sentence after being convicted of assisting drug traffickers in transporting hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States in exchange for bribes that bolstered his political career. Trump surprised many by announcing Hernndezs pardon last Friday, just two days before Honduras national elections, claiming that the former leader had faced a politically motivated and unfair prosecution.

I said it as I left my home, I said it as I was wrongfully convicted, and I will say it again now that I have my liberty. I am innocent, Hernndez wrote on X Wednesday. You changed my life, sir, and I will never forget it.

Trump, speaking from Air Force One on Sunday, stated that many Hondurans had requested the pardon. They (U.S. prosecutors) basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a Biden administration set-up, Trump explained. And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.

Hernndez was released on Monday from U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia. His wife, Ana Garca, confirmed his release early Tuesday, noting that Hernndez was relocated to a confidential location for security reasons. She added that Hernndez had initiated the pardon process months earlier through an official petition and had personally written to Trump on his birthday, October 28.

In the lead-up to Honduras elections, Trump also endorsed a candidate from Hernndezs conservative National Party. As the vote tally continued Wednesday, National Party nominee Nasry Asfura was narrowly trailing Salvador Nasralla of the conservative Liberal Party by less than 1%.

During his presidency, Hernndez depicted himself as a key ally in the fight against drug trafficking, collaborating with U.S. authorities under three American administrations to curb cocaine imports. He was arrested in February 2022 at the request of the United States, shortly after Xiomara Castro assumed the Honduran presidency, and later sentenced to 45 years for accepting bribes that facilitated the shipment of roughly 400 tons (360 metric tons) of cocaine to the U.S.

Author: Noah Whitman