The case for pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez

Last week, President Donald Trump made an announcement that shook the foundations of Honduran politics when he stated that he would issue a pardon to former President Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH). True to his word, Hernandez was released on Tuesday, and today he is a free man again after serving just over a year in prison.

Contrary to what some traditional media and certain internet trolls claim, I did not receive a dime for publicly advocating a pardon for the former Honduran president. I simply forwarded to President Trump a strong letter that Hernandez sent me, because upon reviewing his case, I came to the clear conclusion that the charges against him were politically motivated and false. Hernandez was charged and prosecuted with the same lawfare tactics that special prosecutor Jack Smith used against President Trump. In a nutshell: Juan Orlando Hernández was the victim of a set-up. The pardon granted by President Trump is both an act of justice and mercy.

The letter from President Hernandez was originally forwarded to me by investigative journalist Shane Trejo, as I explained on my syndicated radio program on 77WABC, where I interviewed the former first lady of Honduras, Ana García de Hernández, and her daughters Ana Daniela and Isabela, after the pardon was announced.

The pardon came days before national elections, in which the ruling LIBRE party hoped to retain power. Immediately after Hernández left office in 2022, LIBRE president Xiomara Castro, wife of former president Mel Zelaya, collaborated with Biden and Harris' Department of Justice to extradite him on alleged drug trafficking charges. A serious review of the facts shows that this was simply a political attack driven by the Biden/Harris administration in its witch hunt against President Trump and his allies, both foreign and domestic.

"We are stopping drugs at a level never seen before"

During his tenure, Hernandez worked closely with the United States on anti-drug operations and received praise from President Trump for his efforts. He even signed the extradition treaty that allowed criminals to be sent to the U.S. for prosecution, a landmark agreement in the fight against drug trafficking.

In December 2019, Trump stated, "President Hernandez is working very closely with the United States...we are stopping drugs at a level that has never happened before."

But unbeknownst to Trump, agents of the so-called "deep state" were already building a case against their ally, using testimony from criminals extradited by Hernandez and fabricating a dossier to falsely portray him as a drug trafficker. During the trial, a police official gave false testimony claiming that cocaine trafficking to the U.S. had increased under Hernandez, when in fact it had decreased. Yet the judge denied the request for a new trial.

The case against Hernandez rested on conjecture and on the testimony of murderous kingpins with accounts pending against him, and who, in addition, were receiving incentives from the DEA to incriminate the man who had imprisoned them. Prominent among them were Carlos "Negro" Lobo and Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga.

Lobo was extradited in 2014 as part of JOH's offensive against drug trafficking. At the time, U.S. prosecutors and DEA agents considered him "one of the biggest cocaine transporters in the world." However, everything changed when the anti-Trump political agenda of the Biden/Harris administration took control of the DOJ. Although Lobo was sentenced to 20 years, he served only 10 after secret negotiations with U.S. prosecutors while JOH was already under investigation.

The conflict of interest is obvious: Lobo had incentives to incriminate the man who imprisoned him and thus reduce his own sentence. Today, Lobo has been seen living comfortably in Miami, enjoying the beach and the nightlife, virtually unpunished thanks to the federal government.

The other boss, Rivera Maradiaga, belonged to the Cachiros cartel and admitted to ordering 78 murders. Seeing that JOH's policies were dismantling his organization, he decided to turn himself in to the U.S. and manipulate DEA agents to obtain judicial benefits, offering unproven accusations against Hernandez.

In a video recorded by Maradiaga, a drug trafficker claimed to have delivered $250,000 to JOH, but that money was never traced and no concrete evidence was presented at trial. Under JOH, the murder rate dropped, and a deeply corrupt police force was purged, indicators that completely contradict the narrative that he was a drug trafficker.

Public information about Maradiaga's sentencing is extremely limited. A sealed indictment from 2016 shows he pleaded guilty to crimes that merited life in prison, but the plea deal approved by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York included protective measures and even the possibility of entering the Witness Protection Program under a new identity.

When Stone Cold Truth requested information from the DOJ under FOIA, the agency refused to provide it, citing privacy concerns, and then argued that it was unclear which office had jurisdiction.

Hernandez's defense attorney, Renato Stabile, summed it up, "Putting murderers and drug traffickers on the stand, who have made deals and point fingers at Hernandez, does not constitute proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

Biden/Harris administration connections

During the Biden/Harris administration's political retaliation campaign against Trump and his allies, they targeted Hernandez while courting his opposition: the far-left LIBRE party. LIBRE is led by Xiomara Castro, of the Zelaya clan, with known ties to Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. The Biden administration showed no concern about those ties, as its priority was to neutralize a conservative Trump ally.

The DOJ filed the indictment on Jan. 27, a day after Hernandez left office, while Kamala Harris attended Castro's inauguration to give her a personal endorsement. Harris called her victory "historic" and promised to "fight corruption," ignoring ideological undertones and links to drug trafficking.

Shortly thereafter, the corruption and chaos of the Castro government forced Biden and Harris to distance themselves from the administration. A hidden camera captured Lobo and Maradiaga, the same bosses favored after incriminating JOH, negotiating bribes with Carlos Zelaya, Mel Zelaya's brother and secretary of Congress. There was talk of $500,000 allegedly received by Mel Zelaya and another $650,000 destined to finance the LIBRE party, as well as the use of cartel vehicles for party activities.

The scandal forced Carlos Zelaya and his son, Defense Minister José Manuel Zelaya, to resign. Shortly thereafter, Xiomara Castro announced the cancellation of the extradition treaty with the U.S., alleging a supposed "plot against her government," when in reality she was seeking to protect family members and allies compromised by drug trafficking.

Castro government officials have been photographed with narco leaders, including meetings with Maduro and Venezuelan narco-general Vladimir Padrino. Former U.S. Ambassador Laura Dogu expressed surprise at such meetings with "drug traffickers," but Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina responded by denouncing "U.S. interventionism" and reiterating his intention to eliminate the extradition agreement.

President Trump's pardon restores justice in Honduras

I took a particular interest in Hernandez's case because his experience mirrored my own. Hundreds of DEA agents, coordinated with Xiomara Castro's police, surrounded his home and removed him in a humiliating operation in front of the cameras, separating him from his family. It was a spectacle designed to demonstrate the power of the new socialist regime.

That was similar to when federal agents surrounded my house armed while CNN was broadcasting live, in an effort to show that President Trump was finished and that the deep state was still in charge. The situations in the U.S. and Honduras were parallel, as Hernandez explained in his eloquent letter to President Trump. Dark forces worked against both men for political purposes, fabricating evidence to ensure a predetermined outcome.

But as in the U.S., things in Honduras did not go as planned. The Castro regime failed miserably, and her designated successor, Rixi Moncada, was defeated in the recent elections. The Trump-backed National Party candidate, Tito Asfura, is now emerging as the winner against Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party.

Honduras is a country that pulled back from the brink of communism and demonstrated its yearning for freedom and a closer relationship with the U.S. Hernandez's pardon is part of this national renaissance, demonstrating that the unprecedented political meddling in Honduras was unjust. Today, the country can begin to heal, and Hernandez can be reunited with his family after years of nightmares. The real narco-regime, the Zelaya family, is being displaced, and Honduras has a real chance to rise up and build a future of stability, prosperity and greatness.