U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022), who was convicted in 2024 in the United States on three drug and weapons charges, including receiving money from Mexican drug lord Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. 'I will be granting a total and complete pardon to former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who has been treated, according to many people whom I greatly respect, very harshly and very unfairly,' the head of state revealed on his social media Truth Social. Trump announced the pardon in a post in which he reiterated his support for conservative candidate Nasry 'Tito' Asfura of the National Party, Hernández's same political group, for Sunday's elections in Honduras, promising that 'there will be a lot of support' for the Central American country if that politician wins. 'Vote for Tito Asfura for president, and congratulations to Juan Orlando Hernández on his upcoming pardon,' he wrote. Hernández was extradited in April 2022 to the United States, where in March 2024 he was sentenced to 45 years in prison on three drug and weapons charges, plus five years of supervised release. The former Central American president was accused of receiving money from 'Chapo' Guzmán to finance electoral fraud in exchange for participating in a conspiracy that introduced more than 500 tons of cocaine into the country. Trump reiterated on Truth Social that 'democracy is at stake' in Honduras, where he warned that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his 'narco-terrorists' could 'take another country as they have taken Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.' The president considered that Asfura is 'fighting against Maduro,' while also warning of consequences for Honduras if he is not elected on Sunday. 'If Tito Asfura wins the presidency of Honduras, since the United States has so much confidence in him, his policies, and what he will do for the great people of Honduras, we will give a lot of support.'
