"President Donald Trump said Friday that he will be pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. The president explained his decision on social media by posting that according to many people that I greatly respect, Hernandez was treated very harshly and unfairly."
"Shortly after Trump's announcement, Hernandez's wife and children gathered on the steps on their home in Tegucigalpa and kneeled in prayer, thanking God that Hernandez would return to their family after almost four years apart. It was the same home that Honduran authorities hauled him out of in 2022 just months after leaving office. He was extradited to the United States to stand trial."
"Garcia said they had just been able to speak with Hernandez and tell him the news. He still didn't know of this news and believe me, when we shared it his voice broke with emotion, she said. Garcia thanked Trump, saying that Trump had corrected an injustice, maintaining that Hernandez's prosecution was a coordinated plot by drug traffickers and the radical left to seek revenge against the former president."
President Donald Trump granted a pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted in March 2024 of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Hernandez served two terms as Honduras's leader and was extradited to the United States after being removed from his Tegucigalpa home in 2022. Hernandez has been appealing his conviction while incarcerated at the U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia. Following the pardon announcement, Hernandez's wife and children knelt in prayer on their home steps and expressed gratitude. Family members and Hernandez's lawyer described the pardon as correcting an injustice and expressed hope for his return and strengthened U.S.-Honduras ties.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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