Honduras seeks arrest of ex-President Hernández after Trump pardon : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8640x5760+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F33%2F85%2F8f72333b4a208e51872a2df30653%2Fap25338633299812.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8640x5760+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F33%2F85%2F8f72333b4a208e51872a2df30653%2Fap25338633299812.jpg" class="img" alt="Farmers protest against President Donald Trump's pardon of Honduras' former President Juan Orlando Hernandez in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025." fetchpriority="high"/> Farmers protest towards President Donald Trump's pardon of Honduras' former President Juan Orlando Hernandez in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. Moises Castillo/AP conceal caption

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Moises Castillo/AP TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras Legal professional Common Johel Zelaya mentioned Monday that he had ordered Honduran authorities and requested Interpol to execute a 2023 arrest order for ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández, pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Hernández was launched from federal jail in the USA final week after Trump pardoned him. Hernández had been sentenced in U.S. federal courtroom final yr to 45 years in jail for serving to transfer tons of cocaine to the USA.

Hernández went from supposed U.S. ally within the battle on medicine to the topic of a U.S. extradition request shortly after he left workplace in 2022. He was detained and despatched to the U.S. by present President Xiomara Castro of the social democrat LIBRE social gathering.

Zelaya included a photograph of the two-year-old order signed by a Supreme Courtroom Justice of the Peace for alleged fraud and cash laundering costs. The order says that it have to be executed "within the case that the accused is freed by United States authorities."

Dozens of Honduran officers and politicians have been implicated within the so-called Pandora case by which Honduran prosecutors alleged authorities funds have been diverted by way of a community on nongovernmental organizations to political events, together with Hernández's 2013 presidential marketing campaign.

A lawyer for Hernández, Renato Stabile, mentioned in an electronic mail that, "That is clearly a strictly political transfer on behalf of the defeated Libre social gathering to attempt to intimidate President Hernandez as they're being kicked out of energy in Honduras. It's shameful and a determined piece of political theatre and these costs are utterly baseless."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8640x5760+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2F96%2F96a984244d91b2ed6204992a6f50%2Fap25339738462420.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8640x5760+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2F96%2F96a984244d91b2ed6204992a6f50%2Fap25339738462420.jpg" class="img" alt="A screen shows former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who published a message on TikTok thanking U.S. President Donald Trump for pardoning him, at a coffee shop in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025." loading="lazy"/> A display exhibits former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who revealed a message on TikTok thanking U.S. President Donald Trump for pardoning him, at a espresso store in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. Moises Castillo/AP conceal caption

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Moises Castillo/AP Zelaya had mentioned after Trump introduced his intention to pardon Hernández that his workplace must take motion to finish impunity.

Hernández's spouse mentioned after his launch that the previous president was in an undisclosed location for his security.

The drama comes whereas Honduras remains to be ready to seek out out who its subsequent president will likely be.

Trump endorsed Nasry Asfura, a former Tegucigalpa mayor from Hernández's conservative Nationwide Social gathering. Asfura was main Salvador Nasralla, additionally a conservative from the Liberal Social gathering, by barely a proportion level because the vote depend slowly superior.

An Asfura victory might doubtlessly clean the way in which for Hernández's eventual return to Honduras. Nasralla has made preventing corruption the centerpiece of his marketing campaign and has mentioned Hernández stole the 2017 election from him in a vote that was filled with irregularities.

Hernández at all times denied any wrongdoing whereas in workplace and insisted he was among the many strongest antidrug allies of the USA.

Trump had introduced his intention to pardon Hernández simply days earlier than Honduras' nationwide elections, throwing a brand new component into an in depth contest. Whereas some Hondurans stay nostalgic for Hernández's two phrases in workplace, many have been shocked {that a} man convicted of drug trafficking in a intently watched trial might all of a sudden be launched early in his sentence.

Trump mentioned Hondurans had requested the pardon for Hernández and that after his case he determined Hernández had been unfairly handled by prosecutors.