Trump pardons Honduran ex-president ahead of election

United States President Donald Trump on Friday made a major intervention into Honduran politics days before the country’s presidential election, pardoning a convicted ex-President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Trump also threatened to cut United States support if his preferred candidate loses.

The president said he will pardon Hernandez, who was convicted last year in a US court of drug trafficking charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Hernandez, who led the Central American nation from 2014 to 2022, was accused by US prosecutors of facilitating the import of some 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.

He was extradited to the United States just weeks after leaving office, when the current president, leftist Xiomara Castro, came to power.

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Trump’s stunning announcement came in a social media post proclaiming support for Nasry Asfura, the candidate of Hernandez’s right-wing party in Honduras’s presidential election on Sunday.

Trump had earlier endorsed Asfura, but his latest comments went further, apparently conditioning future aid to Honduras on his victory.

“If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

The president had made a similar threat before Argentina’s election last month.

Asfura, when reached by AFP on the phone, denied any links to Hernandez but celebrated Trump’s re-upped endorsement.

Asfura said Hernandez “was president of the Republic, the party is not responsible for his personal actions.”

The Star