9.12.2025
Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya has requested Interpol’s assistance and directed national authorities to execute an arrest warrant for former President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Hernandez was released from a US prison last week after being pardoned by President Donald Trump. He had originally been sentenced to 45 years for his role in smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States.
Zelaya said the Honduran prosecutor’s office is obliged to act after the pardon to uphold justice.
According to the arrest order, Hernandez should be taken into custody in Honduras if US authorities let him go.
The former Honduran leader was extradited to the US in 2022 by the country’s current president, Xiomara Castro.
According to the arrest order, Hernandez should be taken into custody in Honduras if US authorities allow his return.
Hernandez was also implicated in the so-called Pandora case, in which Honduran politicians and state officials allegedly diverted government money to political parties using a network of NGOs. According to the case, Hernandez’s 2013 presidential campaign received some of the funds.
Renato Stabile, Hernandez’s lawyer, called the move “strictly political,” saying it is an attempt to “intimidate” the former leader.
“It is shameful and a desperate piece of political theatre and these charges are completely baseless,” Stabile said.
Hernandez’s wife said he is currently in an undisclosed location for safety reasons. The former president has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
This comes after the elections in Honduras ended in a “technical tie” between conservative National Party candidate Nasry Asfura and Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla. Asfura, endorsed by Trump, led by less than one percentage point.
Trump declared Asufa a “friend of freedom,” while also accusing Nasralla of “pretending to be an anti-communist.” The US President’s endorsement of Asufa was condemned by the Libre party, who called it “interference and coercion” in the Honduran elections.
An Asufa win could help secure Hernandez’s return to his home country, while Nasralla’s election campaign focused on the fight against corruption, saying the former president stole the 2017 vote from him due to irregularities. Agency reports