Former Honduran president pardoned by Trump for drug trafficking leaves prison in the US, says wife

A former Honduran president convicted of helping smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the United States was released from prison after being pardoned by President Donald Trumphis wife said Tuesday.

Juan Orlando Hernandez He was released from a West Virginia prison on Monday and was “once again a free man,” his wife announced on social media. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons website showed the release of a man matching Hernandez’s name and age.

His wife Ana García thanked Trump for pardoning Hernández through the social platform X early Tuesday morning.

“After almost four years of pain, waiting and difficult challenges, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández IS BACK a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” García’s message read. He included a photograph of Hernandez’s list from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons indicating his release.

Trump’s controversial pardon came as the president of the United States simultaneously orders the ship bombing in the Caribbean allegedly transporting drugs. He also strongly backs a candidate from Hernández’s party in the tense ongoing presidential election in Honduras. electoral vote count.

Trump explained his decision on social media, posting that “according to many people I respect very much,” Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly.”

In March of last year, Hernández was convicted in a US court. of conspiring to import cocaine in the U.S. He had served two terms as leader of the Central American nation of approximately 10 million people. Hernandez has been appealing his conviction and serving time at the Hazelton US Penitentiary in West Virginia.

Shortly after Trump’s announcement, Hernández’s wife and children gathered on the steps of their home in Tegucigalpa and knelt in prayer, thanking God that Hernández would return to his family after nearly four years apart.

It was the same house from which Honduran authorities removed him in 2022, a few months after leaving office. He was extradited to the United States to stand trial.

Trump’s pardon drew criticism from lawmakers of both parties.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana criticized the pardon, saying on social media Sunday: “Why should we pardon?” [Hernandez] And then go after Maduro for bringing drugs into the United States? Lock up all drug dealers! “I don’t understand why they pardoned him.”

“This is shocking,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. pardon saying on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

“He was convicted in federal court in the United States,” said Kaine, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere. “One of the pieces of evidence was his statement, collected by people close to him, that he wanted to put drugs up the noses of gringos and flood the United States with cocaine, more than 400 tons. He was the leader of one of the largest criminal enterprises ever to be convicted in the United States courts, and less than a year after his sentencing, President Trump pardons him, suggesting that President Trump cares nothing about drug trafficking. Possibly suggesting that the pardons “are now on sale in this White House.”

Trump defended the move to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, saying, “A lot of the Hondurans said it was a Biden setup… He was the president of the country, and they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a Biden administration setup, and I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.”

Asked what evidence he had seen that indicated Hernandez’s case was a setup, Trump said: “Take whatever country you want, if someone sells drugs in that country, that doesn’t mean you arrest the president and put him in jail for the rest of his life.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that this was “clear over-prosecution of Biden,” alleging that there was “egregious” information that came to light during Hernandez’s trial.