On Wednesday, April 8, 2026, a United States appeals court annulled the 45-year prison sentence for drug trafficking imposed in 2024 against the former Honduran president. Juan Orlando Hernandezwhom Donald Trump pardoned in November 2025announced his family.
Hernández, who governed Honduras from 2014 to 2022, was pardoned by Trump amid the strong pressure he exerted for Nasry Asfura, a co-partisan of the former president, to be elected president in the November 2025 elections.
The court “has annulled the conviction and sentence, and orders Judge Kevin Castel to eliminate the action (…). The conviction is completely eliminated, the unjustly presented charges have been dismissed. They no longer exist,” Ana García, wife of the former ruler, told the press in Tegucigalpa.
Juan Orlando Hernández was convicted in 2024 accused of having helped introduce hundreds of tons of drugs into the United States in alliance with drug lords such as the Mexican Joaquín ‘el Chapo’ Guzmán.
“It’s a complete blur, it’s total justice. I told it to my family, I told it to the court in Honduras, I told it to the Court in the United States,” Hernández himself celebrated shortly after in a virtual conference from an unidentified American city.
He reiterated that he was the victim of “revenge”
“Today the United States justice system agrees with me,” he added. According to Trump, “JOH,” as Hondurans call him, was the victim of a “setup” by his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
A 57-year-old lawyer, he was handed over under the extradition law that he himself approved under pressure from Washington in 2012, when he was president of Congress.
“Four years ago they expelled me from the country in an opprobrious manner due to political revenge by those who harassed me there and wanted to hide their own crimes,” he said.
Juan Orlando Hernández always considered himself a victim of “revenge” by the bosses he extradited. Many of them testified against him in New York court.
A witness said at the trial that he heard the former president boast that he was going to “shove drugs into the gringos right under their noses” and they were “not going to even notice.”
