Donald Trump has said that he will pardon the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking charges in a US court last year.
The US president stated Hernández had been 'treated very harshly and unfairly' in a social media post announcing the move on Friday.
Hernández was found guilty in March 2024 of conspiring to import cocaine into the US and of possessing machine guns. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Trump also expressed support for conservative presidential candidate Nasry 'Tito' Asfura in the upcoming Honduran general election, scheduled for Sunday.
Hernández, a member of the National Party, served as president from 2014 to 2022 and was extradited to the US in April 2022 to face trial for running a violent drug trafficking conspiracy.
Polling indicates that the Honduran election remains a toss-up between Asfura and other candidates, including Rixi Moncada from the ruling left-wing party and Salvador Nasralla from the centrist Liberal Party.
Trump has criticized Moncada and Nasralla, labeling the latter as 'a borderline Communist' and suggesting his candidacy serves only to divide the vote.
Asfura, described by Trump as 'standing up for democracy', has campaigned against Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, a figure with whom Trump has had heated exchanges.
Under President Xiomara Castro, who has governed since 2022, Honduras has maintained cooperative ties with the US, including compliance with an longstanding extradition treaty.
In recent military operations targeting drug trafficking in the Caribbean, over 80 individuals have reportedly been killed since infamous operations began in August.
