In a move that has sent shockwaves through Central American politics and reverberated across diplomatic circles, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on November 29, 2025, his intention to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. Hernández, who was convicted in 2024 of conspiring to import a staggering 400 tons of cocaine into the United States and sentenced to 45 years in prison, has become a lightning rod for controversy in both Honduras and the United States. The timing of Trump’s announcement, coming just one day before Honduras’ pivotal presidential election, has thrown an unexpected wild card into an already tense and closely watched race.
Trump’s intervention was made public via a post on his Truth Social platform, where he declared, "I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly." According to Newsweek, Trump’s statement didn’t just stop at the pardon. He also tied the fate of U.S. aid to the outcome of the Honduran election, endorsing Nasry “Tito” Asfura, the conservative candidate from Hernández’s National Party. Trump warned, "If he doesn't win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is."
This explicit linkage of U.S. support to the electoral success of Asfura has been widely interpreted as an attempt to influence the Honduran vote, a move that has drawn fierce criticism from opposition candidates and political observers alike. As reported by the Associated Press, the Honduran political conversation shifted overnight from domestic concerns to the question of U.S. interference and the shadow cast by Hernández’s legacy.
Rixi Moncada, the leading opposition candidate from the social democrat LIBRE party, seized on Trump’s announcement as evidence of meddling by both foreign and domestic elites. Addressing her supporters, Moncada declared, “What has happened yesterday (the pardon) is a new crime and that new crime we will judge tomorrow (Sunday) at the ballot box. They won’t come back.” She framed Trump’s actions as a desperate attempt by Honduras’ powerful economic interests and organized crime networks to retain their grip on power, especially after Hernández’s arrest and extradition by the current leftist government of Xiomara Castro.
Salvador Nasralla, the Liberal Party candidate and well-known television host, also responded pointedly to Trump’s interference. “I don’t answer to dark pacts, or corrupt networks or criminals who have killed our people,” he said, reinforcing his outsider credentials despite this being his fourth presidential bid. Trump, meanwhile, dismissed Nasralla as a "borderline Communist" and accused him of running as a spoiler to split the conservative vote, according to NDTV.
The reaction among Honduran voters has been mixed and, at times, deeply personal. Adalid Ávila, a young fruit vendor in Tegucigalpa, told the Associated Press he planned to vote for Asfura, recalling the candidate’s tenure as mayor and his efforts to improve the city’s infrastructure. Ávila believed Trump’s endorsement could help Asfura, noting, “Hondurans know how much help the U.S. can be.” Yet, he also expressed a broader hope that the next president would be “honorable,” work for the people, and respect the results of the election—a sentiment echoed by many wary of potential unrest.
Others, like nurse Melany Martínez, viewed Trump’s actions as an “alert” and questioned the U.S. president’s motives. She argued, “I think the people’s decision must be taken here, because in the end we’re the citizens.” Martínez, like many, was concerned about the prospect of post-election violence and the chronic neglect of health and education by past administrations.
From the U.S. side, Trump’s decision has drawn a chorus of criticism from lawmakers and legal experts. Texas Representative Joaquin Castro lambasted the move on social media, stating, “Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted by a jury of conspiring to traffic 400 tons of cocaine into the United States... He is responsible for the deaths of countless American citizens, and will now be pardoned by Donald Trump. Don’t tell me Donald Trump is killing people in boats in the Caribbean to stop drug trafficking.” California Representative Norma Torres added, “Hernández ran a cartel-backed criminal empire that trafficked over 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., used his office to steal U.S. taxpayer dollars, and bought political power with drug money.”
Former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland had previously described Hernández as someone who "abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world." Meanwhile, Mike Vigil, a former DEA chief of international operations, told The New York Times that the pardon would “destroy the credibility of the U.S. in the international community.”
The controversy is further sharpened by the contradiction between Trump’s pardon of Hernández and his administration’s ongoing anti-narcotrafficking operations in Latin America. As Deutsche Welle and NDTV reported, U.S. military strikes against suspected narcotrafficking vessels in the Caribbean have resulted in dozens of deaths, actions that Trump and his allies have touted as part of a tough-on-crime approach. The apparent double standard has not gone unnoticed by critics like Senator Tim Kaine, who quipped, “And Trump claims he’s trying to fight narco-trafficking?”
On the ground in Honduras, the pardon has become a Rorschach test for voters’ attitudes toward corruption, U.S. involvement, and the future direction of their country. Asfura himself, when reached by AFP, denied any links to Hernández but welcomed Trump’s endorsement. “Hernandez was president of the Republic, the party is not responsible for his personal actions,” he said. Yet, the specter of Hernández’s conviction and the U.S. president’s dramatic intervention hang over the election, complicating an already fraught three-way race between Asfura, Moncada, and Nasralla.
Oliver Erazo, a law professor at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, offered a note of caution, suggesting to the Associated Press that Trump’s interference might not dramatically alter voters’ decisions: “The social and collective behavior of the electorate was already defined a week or two ago, especially when it comes to the National Party and the Liberal Party.” Still, the uncertainty lingers, as does the fear of unrest should the election results be contested.
As Honduras heads to the polls, the country finds itself at a crossroads—its future shaped not only by the will of its people but also by the unpredictable hand of international politics. The outcome of this election, and the fate of Hernández, will resonate far beyond Tegucigalpa, testing the strength of democratic institutions and the boundaries of executive power.
