Latin America and Drug Trafficking

President Trump granted a full pardon to former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving at USP Hazelton after a U.S. conviction for conspiring to import more than 400 tons of cocaine (he had been sentenced to 45 years and was appealing); Hernández was released, Trump defended the move, and it drew bipartisan criticism. Honduras Attorney General Johel Zelaya ordered authorities and asked Interpol to execute a 2023 Supreme Court magistrate arrest order—triggered if Hernández were freed—accusing him in the "Pandora" scheme of fraud and money‑laundering tied to diversion of state funds to political parties; Hernández’s lawyer called the action political and his whereabouts after release remain unclear. The pardon, coming after Trump’s endorsement of National Party candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, has overshadowed a tight Honduran presidential vote.