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Almost four years after he was extradited to the United States on drug-trafficking charges, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez returned home after being pardoned by US President Donald Trump late last year.
Trump said the case was a “set-up” orchestrated by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Hernandez is still facing corruption charges in Honduras but returned Sunday after an arrest warrant was dropped.
Human rights activists and lawyers fear that the case against his party and his leadership may be false.
So why did Trump pardon and release the former president of Honduras despite the kidnapping and arrest of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro on drug and gun charges in January?
Why did Hernandez return to Honduras?
Hernandez was able to return after being pardoned by Trump, released from a US prison and having an arrest warrant suspended last month.
He arrived at Palmerola International Airport, where he was welcomed by his family and National Party supporters.
Hernandez led his country from 2014 to 2022, when, according to US critics, he once boasted that he would “push the medicine up the noses of the gringos”, meaning the American people.
Shortly after leaving office, he was extradited to the US, where he was convicted by a federal court and sentenced to 45 years in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the US.
Prosecutors described the attack as “the largest and most violent terrorist attack in the world”. He was accused of accepting multimillion-dollar bribes from violent drug cartels over 18 years, which he allegedly used to fuel his political rise.
“During his political career, Hernandez abused his position and authority in Honduras to facilitate the shipment of more than 400 tons of cocaine to the US,” the US Department of Justice said after his conviction last year.
At his trial, Hernandez denied accepting bribes from drug dealers, arguing that he opposed the drug trade and citing the administration’s cooperation with the US military.
“I can’t help but be touched by the joy I feel in my heart to be back home,” Hernandez wrote on social media earlier this month, saying he was counting down the days to see his family.
“It wasn’t easy. This job has been very difficult… and what I went through in prison, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” he added.
Hernandez is expected to appear in court on August 3 to answer corruption charges in Honduras.
Why did Trump pardon him?
Under the US Constitution, the president can grant two types of clemency in federal cases: clemency, which excuses the accused from their crimes and restores their civil rights, and commutation, which reduces the punishment of people without having to say what they believe.
Hernandez was pardoned by Trump in December. The US president said Hernandez did not receive a fair trial and was “set up” by Biden’s administration.
Mr Trump added that Hernandez was “treated very badly and unfairly”.
At the same time, Trump also threw his weight behind Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a member of Hernandez’s party. He ran in November’s presidential election and was declared the winner a month later in a race marred by delays and allegations of fraud. He started work in January.
The Pandora Papers corruption investigation also accused Hernandez of diverting nearly $11m in public funds to political campaigns from 2010 to 2013.
So why are some pardoned and others in prison?
The Trump administration was criticized at home for pardoning the Honduran leader immediately to overthrow former President Maduro of Venezuela and his wife, Cilia Flores, in January on similar charges.
Maduro and Flores were arrested in Caracas by the US military and flown to New York, where they are facing multiple gun and drug charges and “narcoterrorist” charges.
During the arrest of Maduro and since then, the Trump administration is looking at small boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific that they say, without providing evidence, are involved in drug trafficking. More than 220 people have been killed in more than 60 demonstrations of small boats which many lawyers and activists have seen as unjustified killings.
Since taking office in January 2025, Trump has ordered more than 1,800 philanthropic donations, including billionaires in cryptocurrencies, disgraced politicians and hundreds of political organizations.
Among those who benefited the most were those who supported his Make America Great Again (MAGA), including hundreds of terrorists who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in order to avoid confirming that Biden won the election over Trump two months ago.
Legal experts say that although the president’s power of mercy is great, using it for allegedly fraudulent purposes such as protecting political colleagues or obstructing justice, could be grounds for impeachment.
US legal expert, Bruce Fein, told Al Jazeera that US lawmakers “understand the abuse of pardon power to protect political friends or associates to create a serious and criminal case to justify the impeachment of the president”.
“If the Democrats take control of Congress in the midterm elections, Trump will be at risk of pardoning Hernandez,” Fein said, referring to the November elections.
