Two days before the country's election, President Donald Trump announced his intention to pardon a former president of Honduras who is serving a decades-long US sentence for cocaine trafficking.
In a Friday Truth Social post, Trump declared Juan Orlando Hernandez's pardon. Trump stated in the article that Hernandez "has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly."
The announcement was made after his administration designated Venezuela's Cartel of the Suns as a foreign terrorist group and carried out multiple operations against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, killing over 80 people.

From 2014 until 2022, Hernandez presided over Honduras. Despite being seen as an American ally across several administrations, he was extradited to the US in 2022 after being accused with drug trafficking and firearms violations. A federal jury in New York found him guilty. In June 2024, he received a 45-year prison sentence.
Trump supported former Tegucigalpa mayor Nasry Asfura earlier this week in Sunday's election to head the nation in central America. Asfura represents the conservative National Party, Hernandez's party during his presidency.
Venezuela disputes the US government's claims that Cartel of the Suns is run by senior army officials and headed by Nicolas Maduro, the country's socialist president.In order to combat drug traffickers, the Trump administration claims that the US has built up its biggest military presence in the area in decades. The deployment, which includes the largest aircraft carrier in the world, increased rumors that the United States may be getting ready to attack targets inside Venezuela—a possibility that Trump has spoken up.
Earlier on Friday, the New York Times revealed that Trump and Maduro had discussed a potential meeting during their conversation last week. The US will begin blocking Venezuelan cartels via land "very soon," according to Trump's statement on Thursday.
The Justice Department reported last year that Hernandez and his accomplices smuggled over 400 tons of cocaine, or around 4.5 billion doses, through Honduras, a significant hub for shipments from Colombia.The former president has repeatedly refuted the allegations.
He "abused his position as the president of Honduras to operate the country as a narco-state, in order to enrich himself and corruptly gain and maintain power," according to the prosecution's charge against him.