Former President Juan Orlando Hernández is back in Honduras. On July 26, just over four years after he left his country in handcuffs, extradited to the United States to face trial for drug trafficking charges, Hernández stepped off a private flight at the Palmerola International Airport and into the arms of his family and a crowd of supporters.
Last December, amid a contentious presidential race in Honduras, U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned Hernández and erased the 45-year federal prison sentence he was serving following his conviction in 2024. Hernández remained wanted in Honduras on corruption charges, but in June, a judge suspended the domestic arrest warrant in that case, which had prevented him from returning home. Hernández has agreed to be arraigned this week on those charges, but he is already plotting to win in court and regain influence within the country’s political system.
The current president of Honduras, Nasry Asfura, belongs to the same National Party as Hernández, and rose to power in part thanks to his support. Asfura won last year’s tightly contested election after an endorsement from Trump—one that came in the same social media post announcing Hernández’s pardon—and following a month-long, controversial vote-counting process that left half the country questioning whether he legitimately won.