Trump Frees Ex Honduran President Jailed for Drug Trafficking
The former president was extradited to the US in 2022, where in 2024 he was sentenced to 45 years in prison on three counts of drug trafficking and weapons charges.
HAVANA TIMES – Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, convicted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, was released on Monday, December 1, 2025, according to updated records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), after receiving a full pardon from US president Donald Trump.
Hernandez was extradited to the United States in April 2022, where in March 2024 he was sentenced to 45 years in prison on three drug-trafficking and weapons charges, plus five years of supervised release and an eight-million-dollar fine.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Hernandez, 57, was released on December 1 from a high-security federal prison in Hazelton, Pennsylvania.
For now, no official details have been confirmed regarding his current whereabouts or the next legal steps, beyond the status update in the Federal Bureau of Prisons database.
Hernandez Sent a Letter to Trump
Trump announced that he intended to pardon him after claiming that former president Joe Biden’s administration had “set up” the former Honduran leader, who governed the country from 2014 to 2022.
The decision to release Juan Orlando Hernandez has drawn criticism from several sectors who argue that the pardon undermines the fight against drug trafficking, while defenders point to irregularities in the trial and allege political persecution.
Hernandez requested a pardon from Trump in a letter in which he praised him and recalled the cooperation between both countries during Trump’s first term, according to the outlet Axios, which obtained access to the letter.
In the letter, according to Axios, Hernandez addressed Trump as “Your Excellency,” something that may have favored the presidential pardon, in which a “persistent lobbying campaign” led by Roger Stone, a longtime friend of Trump, may also have played a role.
First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.