Honduras issues international arrest warrant for former president pardoned by Trump last week

The keys

new
Generated with AI

Honduras’ attorney general has asked Interpol to arrest former president Juan Orlando Hernández, accused of money laundering and fraud.

Hernández was pardoned last week by Donald Trump after being sentenced to 45 years in prison in the United States for drug and weapons trafficking.

The case concerns the misappropriation of a million dollars of public funds to finance political campaigns and affected former deputies, businessmen and civil servants.

The request for arrest is made within the framework of the International Day Against Corruption and after the arrest of the former director of DINAF for irregularities.

The Attorney General of the State of Honduras, Joel Zelayaon Monday urged national security agencies and the International Police (Interpol) to execute an arrest warrant against the former president. Juan Orlando Hernandez. The former president, imprisoned in a US prison on drug trafficking charges, He was pardoned last week by President Donald Trump.

“I inform the Honduran people that I have instructed the ATIC (Technical Criminal Investigation Agency) and I also urge the state security agencies and our international allies, such as INTERPOL, to execute the international arrest warrant against former President Juan Orlando Hernández, accused by the money laundering and fraud crimes“Zelaya said on the social network

The crimes against Hernández are associated with a million-dollar case that also affected former lawmakers, businessmen and individuals in a misappropriation of state resources to finance the 2013 political campaign. The former Honduran president was serving a prison sentence. 45 year prison sentence for drug and firearms trafficking.

We have been lacerated by the tentacles of corruption and by the criminal networks which have deeply marked the life of our country. Therefore, within the framework of the International Day Against Corruption, which is commemorated tomorrow, December 9, I inform the Honduran people… pic.twitter.com/8V4cpyrKq2

– Johel Antonio Zelaya Alvarez (@jaza_hn) December 8, 2025

“We have been lacerated by the tentacles of corruption and by the criminal networks which have deeply marked the life of our country,” he added. Zelaya stressed that his request was made within the framework of the International Day Against Corruption, commemorated on December 9.

He also indicated that “the first line of investigation has already been completed and, after the presentation of the tax request, the former director of DINAF (the former Directorate of Children, Adolescence and Family) was arrested. Dulce María Villanueva Sánchezfor irregularities committed during his tenure at the head of this agency.”

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández guarded by police in Honduras

Gettyimages.

“Our commitment is to truth and justice, as I promised on my first day at the head of this institution,” he stressed.

Investigators revealed that between 2010 and 2013, a corrupt network of lawmakers and others was woven in Honduras, diverting public funds through private foundations to finance political campaigns, like the one that brought Hernández to power. whose whereabouts are unknown.

The former president, who was re-elected despite a constitutional ban in a contested election ended in massive protests and the deployment of the army, is a repudiated figure in his country for all the corruption scandals.

Electoral count

In the case of Juan Orlando Hernández, he was released on November 1 after being pardoned by Trump on November 28, on the eve of the general elections that took place on the 30 of the same month.

The former leader was captured in Tegucigalpa in February 2022 less than three weeks after leaving power in Honduras, responding to an extradition request from the United States, which was fulfilled in April of the same year.

In June 2024, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison, which he will not serve due to the pardon granted to him by Trump, whom the former president publicly thanked last week.

It was Hernández himself who asked to be pardoned by the American president with a letter congratulating him and reminded him of the collaboration between the two countries during his first term. “If someone is selling drugs (in a country), that doesn’t mean the president should be arrested and imprisoned for life,” Trump said of Hernández’s case.

Before announcing Hernández’s pardon, Trump expressed support for the conservative National Party of Honduras presidential candidate, Nasry Titus Asfourafor whom he asked Hondurans to vote.

Asfura topped the slow legislative election poll with 1,274,997 votes (40.52%), compared to 1,232,804 (39.18%) of the votes. Salvador Nasrallaof the Liberal Party which is also conservative.

The presidential candidate of the Liberté et Refondation Party (Free, left) in power, Rixi Moncada, remains relegated to third place with 608,139 votes (19.32%), while 97.46% of the minutes have been counted.