Honduras Ex-Ex-Ex-Ex-Ex – President leaves prison after drug amnesty – national
The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in the operation of dynamic tons in the United States, it was confirmed following a pardon from President Donald Trump, officials on Tuesday.
The website of the US Bureau of Prisons in Pradeni indicated that Hernández was released from the US prison, Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday, and a spokesman for Sureau on Tuesday confirmed his release.
His wife Ana García thanked Trump for pardoning Hernández on the social platform X on Tuesday.
“After four years of pain, waiting and difficult challenges, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández returned to being a free man, thanks to the pardon of President Donald Trump,” said García’s. He also included a photo of the US Bureau of Prisons list of Hernández showing his release.
Trump, who has portrayed himself as a hero against illegal drugs, was asked on Sunday why he pardoned Hernández for the journalists who accompanied him on Air Force one.
“I was asked by Honduras, the majority of the people of Honduras,” Trump said.
“The people of Honduras thought he was suspended, and it was a bad thing,” he said.
“Basically they say he’s a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they say it’s a bidan administration,” Trump said. “And I looked at the facts and agreed with them.”
The US President pointed to the dangers of the flow of illegal drugs from Latin America as the reasons for the US series of attacks on boats in the Caribbean and the military buildup near Venezuela.
Hernández’s lawyer Renato Honate said in an emailed statement that he could not share the current location of the former President. He also added that Hernández is happy that the “Trouble” is over.
“On behalf of President Hernández and his family, I would like to thank President Trump for righting this injustice,” Thinland said.
Get Complete World News
For news that impacts Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
Hernández was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, weeks after current President Xiomara Castro took office.
Two years later, Hernández was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a new federal court for taking bribes from drug traffickers so he could safely move 400 tons (360 metric tons) of cocaine north.
Hernández has been kept throughout saying he was innocent and the victim of revenge by drug dealers he had helped in the United States.
During his sentencing, Federal Judge P. Kevin Castel said the sentence should serve as a warning to “educated, well-dressed” people who gain power and think their status has disorganized them.
Hernández presented himself as a hero of the drug trafficking organization that was cooperating with the US authorities under the three drug administrations to reduce the importation of drugs.
But the judge said that the evidence of the test proved the opposite and that Hernández used “certain operational skills” that made it seem that he strongly contradicted the police while protesting about drug trafficking while using the police in his position to protect the drug trade.
Honduras became a global destination for cocaine exports after it was created in 2009 to create political instability and allowed drug cartels to gain influence. The poverty-stricken country of about 11 million has become one of the world’s most violent places as rival gangs battle for control of smuggling routes.
During Hernández’s presidency from 2014 to 2022, hundreds of thousands of Hondurans fled the conflict and gang violence by immigrating to the United States.
Hernández is not guaranteed an immediate return to Honduras.
Shortly after Trump announced his intention to pardon Hernández, General Gelel Zelaya announced his desire to seek justice and end impunity.
He did not specify whether Hernández would face that in Honduras. There was an investigation related to the fraud of his management of the administration beyond the two names of the office that did not lead to the charges against him. Castro, who oversaw the arrest and extradition of Hernández to the US, will remain in office until January.
The pardon made by Monze’s days before fighting the election of Mongase entering a contest that some say have received the election from his national party, Nasry Asfura, as the votes were counted on Tuesday.
Trump admitted to a social media post on Friday and described his two rivals as controlled by Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro.
“Did Maduro and his narcoterrorists take over another country like they took over Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela?” Trump wrote. “The man who stands up for democracy, and fights for Maduro, is Tito Asfura, the candidate for President of the National Party.”
Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey. Associated Press Writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, DC, contributed. Additional files from Reuters
& Copy 2025 Canadian machine
