Trump Pardoned a Convicted Drug Kingpin and Nobody Can Explain How That Fits the Cartel War
Donald Trump pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on December 1st. Hernández was serving 45 years for helping move over 400 tons of cocaine into the United States while running Honduras as what prosecutors called a “narco-state.”
Meanwhile the Trump administration is literally bombing suspected drug boats in the Caribbean as part of an anti-cartel campaign.
Pick a lane.
What Hernandez Actually Did
FactCheck.org details the conviction: Hernández took millions in bribes from drug traffickers including Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, the former Sinaloa cartel leader. He used Honduran security forces to protect cocaine shipments. He selectively extradited rival traffickers while shielding allies.
Federal Judge P. Kevin Castel called him a “two-faced politician hungry for power” who deployed “considerable acting skills” to appear anti-drug while actually facilitating trafficking.
NPR notes former Attorney General Merrick Garland described Hernández’s network as “one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world.”
Trumps Justification
Trump claimed the prosecution was a “Biden setup” and that “the people of Honduras” asked him to pardon Hernández. He announced the pardon while endorsing Hernández’s ally Nasry “Tito” Asfura for Honduran president.
CNN reports the pardon tied directly to Trumps preferred election outcome in Honduras. “If Tito Asfura wins for President of Honduras, because the United States has so much confidence in him, his Policies, and what he will do for the Great People of Honduras, we will be very supportive.”
That election is still being counted and extremely close.
The Hypocrisy Problem
Congressional Research Service analysis points out the obvious contradiction: the Trump administration designated the Sinaloa cartel – the same cartel Hernández worked with – as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in February 2025.
The administration has carried out at least 21 strikes on vessels accused of carrying drugs, killing at least 83 people according to NBC News. Theyre calling it a war on cartels.
But the guy who ran a cocaine superhighway for those same cartels? He gets a pardon and walks free.
What Comes Next
Hernández thanked Trump and promised to “continue defending everything we built together” in Honduras. Whether he returns to the country remains unclear. The political situation there is messy – his ally may or may not have won the presidency depending on final vote counts.
The White House continues reshaping policy through executive action. This pardon fits that pattern even if it contradicts the stated counter-narcotics mission.
Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto put it bluntly: Hernández “personally helped the Sinaloa Cartel and El Chapo traffic deadly drugs into the United States. Drugs that killed Americans.”
And now hes free.
