The former Honduran president was pardoned by President Donald Trump and released from prison in the United States. Now the authorities in his country are looking for him.
The Attorney General of the Republic of Honduras announced Monday evening that he had issued an international arrest warrant for former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was recently pardoned by President Donald Trump and released from a federal prison in the United States.
In a social media post, Attorney General Johel Antonio Zelaya Álvarez said he had ordered government authorities and Interpol to execute the arrest warrant against Hernández on money laundering and fraud charges related to a case from his first presidential campaign more than a decade ago.
“We have been torn apart by the tentacles of corruption and criminal networks that have deeply marked the life of our country,” Zelaya said when announcing the order in X.
The charges Hernández is facing in Honduras stem from the so-called Pandora case. Prosecutors allege that between 2010 and 2013, a corrupt network of lawmakers and others diverted public funds through private foundations and then funneled those funds into political campaigns, including Hernández’s 2013 campaign.
Hernandez’s whereabouts are unknown and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.
Zelaya noted that his announcement was timed to coincide with International Day Against Corruption, December 9. His message on social media included a document from Nov. 28 — the day Trump first announced his plan to pardon Hernández — in which a Honduran Supreme Court judge called on Interpol to “immediately capture” Hernández even if he were released by U.S. authorities.
In Honduras, Hernández is a widely despised figure whose time in office was marred by corruption scandals that sparked protests. He was at the center of a tense election in 2017, when he won a second term despite a constitutional ban on re-election. His victory was contested, protests broke out and the army was deployed in a bloody period that left around twenty dead.
Less than a month after leaving office in 2022, Hernández was arrested and later extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking and weapons charges. In sentencing him to 45 years in prison, US authorities said he played a central role in “one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world.”
Trump formally pardoned the former president on December 1, and he was released from a federal prison in West Virginia last week.
The pardon came after Hernández sent Trump a letter in which he described himself as a victim of “political persecution” by Joe Biden’s administration and compared his fate to that of Trump.
Figures like Roger Stone, conservative political activist and Trump ally, took up Hernández’s concerns. Stone, who was involved in delivering the letter to Trump, claimed Hernández was the victim of a conspiracy linked to the US government.
Trump said “many friends” supported the pardon.
“He was the president of the country, and they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country,” Trump told reporters. “And they said it was a setup by the Biden administration. And I looked at the facts and I agree with them.”
Last year, Hernández was convicted and sent to prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and for possessing and conspiring to possess “destructive devices,” including machine guns.
The U.S. judge in the case, P. Kevin Castel, had called Hernández a “power-hungry, two-faced politician” who posed as an anti-drug crusader while consorting with drug traffickers. U.S. prosecutors urged the judge to ensure Hernandez died behind bars.
Hernández, a senior figure in Honduras’ National Party, served as the country’s president from 2014 to 2022. When he won, the United States viewed him as a willing, if imperfect, ally.
Hernández’s rumored ties to drug traffickers intensified after his brother, a former lawmaker, was arrested in the United States on drug trafficking charges in 2018. One of the main investigators in the case was Emil Bove III, then the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and later one of Trump’s personal lawyers.
During former President Hernández’s trial, prosecutors alleged that he received millions of dollars in bribes from drug traffickers, including $1 million from Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán, the notorious former leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel who is imprisoned in the United States.
Hernández denied trafficking drugs, offering police protection to drug cartels or accepting bribes.
While right-wing figures like Stone pushed for Hernández’s pardon, other figures, including Trump’s former campaign manager, were advising a candidate in this year’s Honduras presidential election who is a member of Hernández’s party, the National Party. Trump also endorsed that candidate, Nasry Asfura.
The results of the close election have not yet been announced, but as of Monday evening, Trump’s favorite candidate was ahead with 97 percent of the votes counted.
Jeff Ernst contributed reporting from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Annie Correal is a Times reporter covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
Jeff Ernst contributed reporting from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
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