(WASHINGTON) — Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted in 2024 of trafficking drugs into the United States, has been freed from prison after he was granted a pardon by President Donald Trump, officials said.
The 57-year-old Hernandez was released from a federal prison in West Virginia, where he had been serving a 45-year sentence, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Hernandez’s attorney.
“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,” Hernandez’s wife, Ana Garcia de Hernandez, said in a social media post.
Hernandez’s wife added, “Today we give thanks to God, because he is just and His timing is perfect. Thank you, Mr. President, for restoring our hope and for recognizing a truth that we always knew.”
Trump formally granted Hernandez a full pardon on Monday evening, Hernandez’s attorney, Renato Stabile, told ABC News.
“True to his word, I can confirm that President Trump has issued a full and unconditional pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez,” Stabile said.
Stabile said Hernandez, a two-term president of Honduras, was released early Tuesday morning from the U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton, a high-security prison in West Virginia.
“On behalf of President Hernandez and his family, I would like to thank President Trump for correcting this injustice,” Stabile said. “President Hernandez is glad this ordeal is over and is looking forward to regaining his life after almost four years in prison.”
Trump’s pardon of Hernandez came as a surprise to federal prosecutors and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who said the decision appears to contradict the Trump administration’s crackdown on drug trafficking from the Caribbean.
“Why would we pardon this guy then go after [Venezuelan president Nicolas] Maduro for running drugs into the United States? Lock up every drug runner! Don’t understand why he is being pardoned,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in a social media post over the weekend.
Hernandez was extradited to the United States in April 2022 under the Biden administration after he was indicted on charges of conspiring to import cocaine, using and carrying machine guns in furtherance of cocaine importation, and conspiring to use and carry machine guns in furtherance of cocaine importation.
Following Hernandez’s conviction in March 2024 in federal court in New York City, federal prosecutors said Hernandez helped drug cartels “move mountains of cocaine” into the United States and was “at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.”
But in a social media post on Friday, Trump announced, “I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated harshly and unfairly.”
In a follow-up social media post on Saturday, Trump said, “The people of Honduras really thought he was set up.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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