Trump released the former Honduran president convicted of drug trafficking

It was confirmed on Tuesday that Juan Orlando Hernandez, sentenced to 45 years in prison in the United States for facilitating the passage of hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States, has been released. The former President of Honduras has left Hazelton Federal Prison in the West … Virginia, after receiving a pardon signed by Donald Trump. His release was verified by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and announced publicly His wife, Ana Garciawho thanked President Trump for his gesture and released the official release record.

Hernandez was arrested in February 2022, at the request of the United States, a few weeks after the handover of power to the leftist Xiomara Castro. Two years later, a New York federal court sentenced him to 45 years in prison after concluding that he accepted bribes from drug traffickers to allow the transportation of about 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. He always maintained that he was innocent and that he was the target of revenge by the same criminal groups whose extradition he facilitated.

Trump explained, on Sunday, on Air Force One, that he granted the pardon after receiving requests from various sectors in Honduras stating that. Hernandez was a victim of the montage Attributed to the Biden administration. He also confirmed that after reviewing the available information, he considered that these accusations are valid.

The pardon also came in the middle of the election campaign in Honduras. His announcement, made a few days before the vote, introduced a new element of scandal into the electoral race, but favored right-wing candidate Nasri Asfoura as the counting progressed.

Asfora belongs to the National Party, to which Hernandez belongs, and which has languished in power for many years between leftist governments led by the family of Manuel Zelaya and his wife, the outgoing president.

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