Honduras Seeks Arrest Of Ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández Pardoned By Trump
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya said Monday that he has directed Honduran authorities and asked Interpol to enforce an arrest warrant for former President Juan Orlando Hernández in 2023. Pardoned by US President Donald Trump.
Hernández was released from federal prison in the US last week after Trump pardoned him. Hernández was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a US federal court last year for helping transport tons of cocaine to the US.
Shortly after leaving office in 2022, Hernández, a nominal US ally in the war on drugs, became the subject of a US extradition request. He was detained by current President Xiomara Castro of the social democratic LIBRE party and sent to the United States.
Zelaya also included a photo of the two-year order signed by a Supreme Court judge on allegations of fraud and money laundering. The order says he must be executed “if the defendant is released by U.S. authorities.”
Dozens of Honduran officials and politicians were implicated in the so-called Pandora case, in which Honduran prosecutors alleged that government funds were directed to political parties through a network of nongovernmental organizations, including Hernández’s 2013 presidential campaign.
Hernández’s lawyer, Renato Stabile, said in an email: “This is absolutely a political move on the part of the defeated Libre party to intimidate President Hernandez as he is being ousted from power in Honduras. This is a shameful and desperate piece of political theater, and these accusations are completely unfounded.”
Zelaya said his office must take action to end impunity after Trump announced his intention to pardon Hernández.
Hernández’s wife said the former president was at an undisclosed location for his safety after his release.
Drama comes as Honduras stands still Waiting to find out who the next president will be.
Trump backed former Tegucigalpa mayor Nasry Asfura, from Hernández’s conservative National Party. Asfura was leading conservative Salvador Nasralla, also of the Liberal Party, by just one percentage point as vote counting slowly progressed.
A victory in Asfura could pave the way for Hernández’s return to Honduras. Nasralla has made fighting corruption a focal point of his campaign and says Hernández stole the 2017 election from him with a vote riddled with irregularities.
Hernández has always denied any wrongdoing While in office, he insisted that the United States was among his strongest anti-drug allies.
Trump added a new element to the close contest by announcing his intention to pardon Hernández just days before national elections in Honduras. While some Hondurans remain nostalgic for Hernández’s two terms in office, many were shocked that a man convicted of drug trafficking in a closely watched trial could suddenly be released early in his sentence.
Trump said Hondurans had requested a pardon for Hernández and, after reviewing his case, decided that Hernández had been treated unfairly by prosecutors.
