Ex-Honduran president thanks God and Trump after release from US prison

ANKARA

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez expressed gratitude to both God and US President Donald Trump after receiving a presidential pardon for a federal drug-trafficking conviction, less than two years after being sentenced to 45 years in prison.

In a video posted online on Dec. 5, Hernandez said: “Thanks to you, Lord, today I’m a free man.” He then praised Trump, saying: “You changed my life, and I’ll never forget that.”

He described the pardon as a correction of “injustice and suffering,” crediting Trump with having the “courage to defend justice and fulfill his promise” to prevent state power from being used against political opponents.

Hernandez was convicted in March 2024 by a US jury of accepting bribes from Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and turning Honduras into a key transshipment route for cocaine.

He was extradited to the US in April 2022, just three months after ending his second term as president.

Following his release from a federal prison in West Virginia, Hernandez echoed Trump’s rhetoric, claiming he had been targeted by a conspiracy involving former US President Joe Biden’s administration and “deep state” actors.

“They wanted to assassinate my morale, erase my name, and sully my legacy,” Hernandez said. “Their objective was clear: get me out of the way.”

He limited replies on his video, tagging several Trump allies, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt and strategist Roger Stone.

A community note below the video cited his conviction and linked to the US Justice Department’s statement.

Trump’s pardon has drawn political backlash in the US, especially as he continues military operations targeting drug traffickers in Latin America.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons told CNN the move sent “exactly the wrong message.”

The pardon also stirred tensions ahead of Honduras’ presidential election, with Trump endorsing Hernandez ally Nasry Asfura.