Former Honduras Pres Freed After Pardon12/03 06:16

   

   TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) -- Former Honduras President Juan Orlando 
Hernndez, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in a drug 
trafficking operation that moved hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United 
States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald 
Trump, officials confirmed Tuesday.

   Hernndez was released Monday from U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West 
Virginia, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told The Associated 
Press. The bureau's online inmate records also reflected his release.

   The release of Hernndez -- a former U.S. ally whose conviction prosecutors 
said exposed the depth of cartel influence in Honduras -- comes just days after 
the country's presidential election. Trump defended the decision aboard Air 
Force One on Sunday, saying Hondurans believed Hernndez had been "set up," 
even as prosecutors argued he protected drug traffickers who moved hundreds of 
tons of cocaine through the country.

   The pardon also unfolds against the backdrop of Trump's aggressive 
counter-narcotics push that has triggered intense controversy across Latin 
America. In recent months, U.S. forces have repeatedly struck vessels they say 
were ferrying drugs north, a series of lethal maritime attacks that the 
administration argues are lawful acts of war against drug cartels -- and that 
critics say test the limits of international law and amount to a pressure 
campaign on Venezuela's President Nicols Maduro.

   The Trump administration has carried out 21 known strikes on vessels accused 
of carrying drugs, killing at least 83 people. The administration has justified 
the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United 
States and asserted the U.S. is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug 
cartels, similar to the war against al-Qaida following the Sept. 11 attacks.

   Hernndez's wife applauds his release

   Ana Garca thanked Trump for pardoning her husband via the social platform X 
early Tuesday.

   Speaking to reporters Tuesday outside her home in Tegucigalpa, she thanked 
Trump for pardoning her husband and drew a parallel between the two men.

   "Today the whole world realizes that, like they did with President Donald 
Trump, the same Southern District, the same prosecutor created a political 
case," Garca said.

   She said Hernndez called her Monday evening to say he was in the office of 
the prison head and had been told he will be released. Garca said Hernndez is 
in an undisclosed location for his safety, but that he plans to address the 
Honduran people on Wednesday.

   Hernndez's attorney Renato Stabile said in an emailed statement he also 
would not share the former president's current location.

   Garca said the process to seek a pardon began several months ago with a 
petition to the office of pardons. Then on Oct. 28, Hernndez's birthday, he 
wrote a letter to Trump. He announced he was pardoning Hernndez last Friday.

   "My husband is the president who has done the most for Honduras in the fight 
against organized crime," Garcia said.

   Trump's rationale for the pardon

   Trump was asked Sunday why he pardoned Hernndez.

   "I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras," Trump told 
reporters traveling with him on Air Force One.

   "The people of Honduras really thought he was set up, and it was a terrible 
thing," he said.

   "They basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of 
the country. And they said it was a Biden administration set-up," Trump said. 
"And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them."

   Stabile, the attorney, said Hernndez is glad the "ordeal" is over.

   "On behalf of President Hernndez and his family I would like to thank 
President Trump for correcting this injustice," Stabile said.

   Democratic lawmakers expressed condemnation and disbelief that Trump issued 
the pardon.

   "They prosecute him, find him guilty of selling narcotics through these 
cartels into the United States. Can you think of anyone more reprehensible than 
that? Selling drugs to this country, finding more victims by the day," said 
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois in a speech on the Senate floor.

   "This is not an action by a President trying to keep America safe from 
narcotics," Durbin added.

   The Trump administration has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants 
and has carried out strikes in the Caribbean against boats the White House says 
were carrying drugs.

   The case against the former president

   Hernndez was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, 
weeks after current President Xiomara Castro took office.

   Two years later, Hernndez was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a New York 
federal courtroom for taking bribes from drug traffickers so they could safely 
move some 400 tons (360 metric tons) of cocaine north through Honduras to the 
United States.

   Hernndez maintained throughout that he was innocent and the victim of 
revenge by drug traffickers he had helped extradite to the United States.

   During his sentencing, federal Judge P. Kevin Castel said the punishment 
should serve as a warning to "well educated, well dressed" individuals who gain 
power and think their status insulates them from justice when they do wrong.

   Hernndez portrayed himself as a hero of the anti-drug trafficking movement 
who teamed up with American authorities under three U.S. presidential 
administrations to reduce drug imports.

   But the judge said trial evidence proved the opposite and that Hernndez 
employed "considerable acting skills" to make it seem that he strongly opposed 
drug trafficking while he deployed his nation's police and military to protect 
the drug trade.

   Hernndez is not guaranteed a quick return to Honduras.

   Immediately after Trump announced his intention to pardon Hernndez, 
Honduras Attorney General Johel Zelaya said via X that his office was obligated 
to seek justice and put an end to impunity.

   He did not specify what charges Hernndez could face in Honduras. There were 
various corruption-related investigations of his administration across two 
terms in office that did not lead to charges against him. Castro, who oversaw 
Hernndez's arrest and extradition to the U.S., will remain in office until 
January.

   The pardon promised by Trump days before Honduras' presidential election 
injected a new element into the contest that some said helped the candidate 
from his National Party Nasry Asfura as the vote count proceeded Tuesday.