Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez, 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 Trump, Hernandez's wife announced Tuesday. The US Bureau of Prisons inmate website showed that Hernandez was released from US Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday, and a spokesperson for the bureau on Tuesday confirmed his release, per the AP.
The former leader's wife, Ana Garcia, thanked Trump early Tuesday via X for pardoning Hernandez. "After nearly four years of pain, waiting, and difficult trials, my husband Juan Orlando Hernandez RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump," Garcia's post read. She included a picture of the Bureau of Prisons listing for Hernandez indicating his release.
Hernandez was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, weeks after handing over power to current President Xiomara Castro. 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. Hernandez maintained throughout that he was innocent and the victim of revenge by drug traffickers he'd 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. "I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras," Trump said. "The people of Honduras really thought he was set up, and it was a terrible thing." Trump added, "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."
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