When it comes to international affairs, Honduras hasn’t exactly been at the top of Donald Trump’s priority list. Before last week, the American president had not mentioned the Central American country at all this year, either in public remarks or online.
The day before Thanksgiving, however, Trump took a newfound interest in Honduras, extending an endorsement to Tito Asfura’s candidacy in the country’s presidential election. Two days later, the Republican published two more related items to his social media platform touting Asfura, one of which included some unexpected news.
“Additionally, 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,” the American president wrote. “This cannot be allowed to happen. … CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON.”
For those unfamiliar with Hernández, this might not have seemed especially notable, but consider this striking summary published by The New York Times:
He once boasted that he would ‘stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses.’ He accepted a $1 million bribe from El Chapo to allow cocaine shipments to pass through Honduras. A man was killed in prison to protect him. At the federal trial of Juan Orlando Hernández in New York, testimony and evidence showed how the former president maintained Honduras as a bastion of the global drug trade. He orchestrated a vast trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions for cartels while keeping Honduras one of Central America’s poorest, most violent and most corrupt countries.
Hernández was convicted last year in a sweeping drug-trafficking case and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Trump, however, is undoing all of that — to the great surprise of both Hondurans and U.S. officials who’d invested enormous resources in building a successful case against the former leader.
If the Republican follows through on his announcement, the result will reinforce a ridiculous dynamic, even by 2025 standards: While Trump and his administration claim that the U.S. is engaged in a literal armed conflict against foreign drug traffickers, the American president has vowed to pardon a notorious foreign drug trafficker.
Pressed for an explanation, Trump initially told reporters on Sunday night, “I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Reminded of his own stated plans, Trump added, “Well, I was told, I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras, they said it was a Biden set-up.”
After talking for a while about his conspiracy theories surrounding his Democratic predecessor, Trump added that he “looked at the facts” and came to believe that the case against the notorious drug trafficker, who was convicted by an American jury after seeing evidence from American prosecutors, was illegitimate.
The Republican used the phrase “Biden administration set-up” a few more times before moving on.
Trump offered no evidence to substantiate the claims.
I’m mindful that the American president’s pardon pen has been getting a workout in recent weeks. We’ve seen Trump extend clemency to, among others, the spouse of a congressional loyalist; those who helped him try to overturn the 2020 election results; some Jan. 6 rioters who apparently needed a re-pardon; nursing home magnate Joseph Schwartz, who paid lobbyists almost $1 million in the hopes of receiving presidential clemency; and the man who helped finance the president’s stablecoin and put money in the Trump family’s pockets.
But just when it seemed the list couldn’t get more outlandish, the Republican incumbent made matters even worse the day after Thanksgiving.
