Drug Lord Juan Orlando Hernández Is FREE
The dapper ex-president of Honduras' narco-state gets a presidential pardon
Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras and notorious cocaine kingpin, was released from prison on Monday, December 1, 2025, just one year and nine months into the 45-year sentence he received after his conviction in Manhattan federal court on drug trafficking and weapons charges. Holy toots! However did he manage that? Well, it turns out that a good friend, DJT, issued him a presidential pardon. Apparently, this is the sort of courtesy one corrupt president extends to another. For Hernández, this pardon was the Be Best Christmas gift EVER.
Trump’s pardon for Hernández came as a huge surprise to just about everyone — his administration, his colleagues in Congress, military leaders, the Press — you name it, they were shocked. And this particular pardon smelled rotten from the get-go as it was issued in spite of everyone’s having been briefed on Hernández’s legacy of trafficking cocaine into the United States, an estimated 400 tons of it. Trump’s whole crew was also up-to-speed on his close ties to Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, whose drug mules he allowed to pass through Honduras unimpeded in exchange for a $1M bribe, and on his various drug-trafficking-related weapons charges. The DOJ’s press release post-trial (a document Trump has surely seen) laid the situation out clearly:
“Hernández received millions of dollars of drug money from some of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, and used those bribes to fuel his rise in Honduran politics. In turn, as Hernández rose to power in Honduras, he provided increased support and protection for his co-conspirators, allowing them to move mountains of cocaine, commit acts of violence and murder, and help turn Honduras into one of the most dangerous countries in the world.”
Obviously, Hernández was the sort of person who should never have received a pardon. Pretty sure we can all agree on that. Not only was JOH a really bad guy, but no one (besides his wife) was speaking out on his behalf, and no new evidence had been presented that cast doubt on the jury’s unanimous verdict to convict him. And there was nothing remarkable Hernández had done for his country or the world that offset his transgressions, not even good behavior in prison. Most curiously, this pardon didn’t even appear to benefit Trump financially. That would have explained a lot, but nothing pointed to that scenario.
The Hernández pardon — it was a huge mystery.
Then, like a miracle, Hernández was released on Monday night. He was free as a jaybird — this in spite of the overwhelming evidence presented against him in court — credible eyewitnesses who testified to the payment of millions in bribes and cartel ledgers that bore Hernández’s initials throughout. And let’s not forget the intercepted phone calls Hernández had made with MS-13 gang leaders in which the best drug routes and logistics for handing over money were discussed. Also damning: evidence pointing to Hernández having used Honduran military troops and police to protect traffickers as they wended their way through his country. At the end of the three-week trial, Hernández was convicted of drug trafficking and weapons conspiracy. The jury rendered a unanimous verdict; there was no doubt as to his guilt. Hernández was known to be a central figure in the pipeline through which illegal drugs flowed into the United States.
That should have been the end of the story. But it was not.
The day following Hernández’s release, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gave this reason for his pardon: “He [Hernández] was opposed to the values of the previous administration, and they [the Biden administration] charged him because he was president of Honduras.” Ah, yes. This explanation made plain the reality of the situation: JOH’s trial was a “clear Biden over-prosecution,” according to Leavitt. This tidy excuse likely went over well with Trump’s flock on FOX News and Newsmax. No further explanation was needed as to why one of Central America’s top drug lords was now enjoying his freedom at an undisclosed location in the United States. Back to business as usual. Next question?
In her usual fashion, Leavitt spun a story on behalf of Trump that was intended to bolster a narrative to which we are not privy, but which will inevitably reveal itself. In her press briefing, Leavitt conveniently omitted the part of the Hernández story that included Emil Bove III, a Republican and huge Trump loyalist. Bove had been part of the original investigation into the goings on of Juan Orlando Hernández and Juan “Tony” Antonio Hernández, and was the lead prosecutor on Tony’s case, presenting the closing arguments at his trial. FYI, Tony, like his brother, Juan, had been a lawyer, drug and arms trafficker, and a politician, serving as a member of the National Congress of Honduras from 2014- 2018. Both Tony and Juan were members of Partido Nacional de Honduras, of which Trump is apparently a huge supporter, per his Truth Social post above. Partido Nacional had been widely associated with the creation of a narco-state within Honduras, and much of its funding came through embezzlement. This party is renowned for its misuse of public funds and is linked to major drug trafficking entities, including Los Cachiros and the Atlantic Cartel. Trump’s new buddy, Tito Asfura, is that party’s candidate for President.
Back to Leavitt’s grand omissions in the Hernández saga…
That same evidence Emil Bove amassed for the Tony Hernández trial — overwhelming evidence that put Tony behind bars for life — also put the final nails in the coffin for Juan Orlando Hernández. That is, until Trump pardoned him on December 1, 2025.
And now, as this controversial pardon rubs out Bove’s legacy of putting two notorious drug traffickers behind bars, one of the most outstanding achievements in his career, Bove remains silent. Why? If anyone should have spoken out against this pardon, it was Bove.
Perhaps this is a clue: on July 29, 2025, Emil Bove III was confirmed by the Senate to a lifetime position as a U.S. Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. This, after being nominated by Donald Trump. Bove’s singular comment after the Hernández pardon:
“I am proud to have previously represented and served President Trump, and I completely trust and respect his judgment in exercising the pardon power, which the Constitution vests in him alone by virtue of his mandate from the American people.”
Wow. One of the world’s most corrupt politicians and drug traffickers is now free and roaming the streets in the United States, while a talented DOJ prosecutor, who is also a Trump loyalist, has been accused of “over-prosecuting” a case because of a rift between Democrats and a narco-state party (Partido Nacional) in Honduras. WTAF. None of this adds up.
Here are some of Bove’s pre-judgeship observations regarding the Hernández cases:
The Hernández brothers provided protection for traffickers. Regarding pivotal witnesses, Bove said: “The largest and most violent drug traffickers who testified at this trial [Tony Hernández’s] were protected by this defendant.” In other words, they had every reason to lie on his behalf, which they did not do. In referring to Tony, Bove linked this corruption in Tony’s trial to the Honduran President’s office [held by Juan Orlando Hernández, Tony’s brother].
Bove made clear that the defendant [Tony] “smothered Honduras in corruption,” which enabled drug trafficking, and that the military was deployed to protect drug turf, and the national police used to murder rivals. Deploying the military and the national police — those actions were within Juan Orlando Hernández’s jurisdiction.
Bove explained a process whereby drug traffickers connected to the Honduran government [of which JOH was president] were allowed access to radar information that helped provide safe passage for drug planes and boats, and would warn the cartels of military operations.
Throughout Tony’s trial, Bove emphasized the large scale of the Honduran government-endorsed drug operation and noted that for almost 15 years the “defendant ravaged his country... to send a tidal wave of cocaine to the United States.” Bove emphasized that those who challenged the Hernández brothers’ operation were murdered.
Surely, these facts, as stated by Trump’s own wingman, weaken significantly Leavitt’s argument of Juan Hernández’s political persecution and a Biden conspiracy. In addition, they bolster the argument that Juan Orlando Hernández should have remained at USP Hazelton for the remainder of his life. Though Emil Bove’s most significant accomplishment of his career, that of bringing down the Hernández brothers, had been denigrated by the Trump administration, Bove remains, to this day, one of the president’s own.
And if, hypothetically, the Hernández investigation and indictment had been politically driven, Karoline Leavitt has failed to explain the exact motive for these trials. What purpose did it serve for Biden to bring down the former president of Honduras, a tiny country whose population is the size of New York City? Purportedly, Biden’s values didn’t align with Hernández’s. But, even if that were the case, who cares? Why would anyone (i.e., Biden) go after a president who is no longer in power, and who is from a country whose policies only minimally impact the United States?
The only logical reason to go after Hernández: he was a major player in the drug trafficking emanating from Central America. We’re talking about mountains of illicit drugs that were landing in the United States.
Juan Orlando Hernández and his brother, Tony Hernández, were known to have been trafficking drugs and weapons for years, well before Juan took office as the President of Honduras. Selling drugs and weapons, and laundering money, was the family enterprise. It was highly likely that, unless taken down, Juan and Tony would continue in this line of work indefinitely, especially now that they had all those solid Honduran government connections. Both were well-equipped to aid and abet the cartels, for large sums of money, of course.
Taking down a drug kingpin and his sideman seemed the only viable explanation as to why Biden’s DOJ would prosecute Juan Orlando Hernández. Karoline Leavitt’s nefarious political revenge plot does not hold water. Stopping Hernández from continuing to shepherd hundreds of tons of cocaine into communities across the United States — now that makes sense.
Once again, the Trump-Leavitt logic has failed to connect the dots that might have made their story believable. Second-rate gaslighting. Of course, no one in the media was buying their tale, minus the usual sycophants, yet the underlying motive for this pardon remains unknown, as most major news publications don’t seem to be taking up the thread. The reason for this pardon — well, all of the possibilities are disturbing.
Was Trump pardoning Juan Orlando Hernández for some sort of to-be-determined financial gain, for revenge against Biden, for the sport of it, to even a score? Or was Trump offering this pardon as a favor for a friend? Was Maria Corina Machado that friend, perhaps?
Turns out there are more than a few common denominators between Maria, Don, and Juan. Let’s start with their shared political alignments, then move on to the corruption in their respective parties, and round things off with their affinity for power and money. It also seems likely that Bitcoin might be a major connection, or the connection — perhaps the only pertinent one. So, while we’re exploring seemingly unexplainable pardons, let’s throw Changpeng Zhao’s pardon into the mix. For those unfamiliar with his situation, know that CZ was sentenced to prison last spring for allowing a massive amount of money to be laundered through his company, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
So, who, exactly, was laundering money on Binance? Lots of thugs: drug traffickers, scammers, individuals trafficking children, terrorist organizations, and countries sanctioned by the U.S., among others. And, yes, these customers would include drug traffickers who were running their operations out of Honduras. And (drum roll, please), there are loads of Venezuelans who use Binance in lieu of their own country’s currency. In fact, Venezuela is one of Binance’s largest markets, second only to Argentina.
So, to be clear, the President of the United States granted a pardon to a man, Changpeng Zhao, whose company was laundering money on behalf of some of the most notorious and violent criminals on the planet. This guy, CZ, made it possible for drug and human trafficking businesses to operate unimpeded. No more pesky banks and their ridiculous regulations.
And, in case you’d not noticed, Bitcoin is also the cornerstone of Maria Corina Machado’s current schtick as she lines herself up to be the new dictator of Venezuela — that is, once Trump clears Maduro out of the Miraflores Palace in Caracas. Machado had this to say on the subject in 2024, spinning Bitcoin as the most effective way to resist the Maduro regime:
“Some Venezuelans found a lifeline in Bitcoin during hyperinflation,” she said, noting that [Bitcoin] has evolved from a humanitarian tool to a vital means of resistance.” She also stated that: “We envision Bitcoin as part of our national reserves, helping rebuild what the dictatorship stole.” — Maria Machado at the Human Rights Foundation, September, 2024
Hope y’all are starting to make the connections between Trump’s nefarious pardons, Bitcoin, Venezuela, Honduras, Binance, Zhao, Machado, Hernández, and the like.
I imagine steam is coming out of your ears, too
And why, you may ask, would Trump grant a pardon to a lowlife like CZ? Well, that’s a no-brainer. Binance and Changpeng Zhao have close ties to World Liberty Financial, the crypto company founded by Don, Don Jr., Eric, and Barron. The Four Stooges have been working on a $2B deal with Mubadala Global Exchange via Binance.
For more details on this sorrid tale, read “Binance Denied It Helped Trump’s Crypto Venture — But A $2B Deal And A Presidential Pardon Have Lawmakers Asking Questions” by Nick Thomas of Benzinga, a publication for investors.
Forbe’s also offers an enlightening synopsis of the same situation with calming music:
So, now let’s get back to Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, and his crazy pardon. Here’s JOH’s Bitcoin connection: Próspera. Próspera is a charter city on the private island of Roatán, Honduras, which JOH was instrumental in getting designated as a special economic zone (ZEDE). The vision of Próspera: to operate autonomously from the Honduran government, to be a financial utopia, a private city, whose distinct fiscal, legal, and regulatory framework is imagined and implemented by tech moguls, with Bitcoin adopted as its legal tender. Próspera is considered by some (Altman, Thiel, Andreesen, and others) to be the new frontier of economic development. Most Hondurans, however, consider these special economic zones to be a form of modern-day colonialism.
So, why would all the Bitcoin whales, as they are affectionately called, love Juan Orlando Hernández? Because he is pro-Próspera, pro-Bitcoin, and pro-Trump, and because he is as corrupt as they come. They know he will turn a blind eye to business dealings that co-mingle with drugs, weapons, and human trafficking transactions. Honduras’s current president, Xiomara Castro, has been working diligently to dismantle Próspera, and as a result, the country is now facing lawsuits from numerous U.S. investors that were involved with the now-defunct “special development regions” (ZEDEs), like Honduras Próspera Inc. These investors are seeking billions in damages at the World Bank’s arbitration court and a judgement in their favor could devastate Honduras’s economy.
For more on this trending subject, read: “Próspera, Honduras: A Controversial Experiment in Corporate Governance“ from The International Relations Review of October 2025 and “How a Start-Up Utopia Became a Nightmare for Honduras” from Foreign Policy, January 2024.
It would seem that a major Bitcoin company whose co-founder emeritus lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in D.C. has every incentive to put Juan Orlando Hernández’s party back into power.
One more interesting connection to ponder: Erick Brimen, wealth fund manager, Venezuelan, and founder of Próspera, who is a very good friend of Maria Corina Machado. Brimen has frequently expressed support for Machado and her party’s work through his social media posts (linked to Próspera) and through Venezuelan opposition videos, in which he explicitly aligns himself with Machado and her platform, comparing his business initiatives to her party’s economic plans. Note: Machado’s proposed economic plans for Venezuela, should her party regain power, bear an uncanny resemblance to those of the special economic zones Brimen promotes, like Próspera.
Here’s another interesting tidbit — an official-looking, “declaración pública” that Juan Hernández posted on Instagram from prison, congratulating his friend, Maria Corina Machado, on her Nobel Peace Prize…
Translation:
“Even from exile and this unjust prison, my congratulations, María Corina Machado, for this deserved 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Your brave fight against repression and in favor of Venezuela’s freedom inspires all of America. I agree with your recognition of the support that President Trump has provided to the Venezuelan people and with his constant struggle for world peace. I remember your visit to the National Congress in 2013, when I was president of Congress, during which you warned us that what Venezuela was experiencing posed a threat to the stability of the entire region. Today, the world recognizes your tireless work in defense of democracy, and we Hondurans must reaffirm our commitment to it, moving away from the failed socialism of the 21st century.” — Juan Orlando Hernández, Oct. 20, 2025, from USP Hazelton
All of these troubling connections make me want to click my heels and go back to Kansas. Or even better, California.
This Christmas, it looks like Juan Orlando Hernández will be enjoying hot buttered rum as he relaxes next to a roaring fire in his quaint post-penitentiary cottage somewhere in the West Virginia countryside. His wife, Ana García Carías, will surely be joining him for an extended conjugal visit. Sadly (or not), the Hernándezs aren’t able to leave the United States to return to their homeland for the holidays. As you may have heard, Honduras is currently experiencing a politically charged presidential election riddled with corruption, high levels of violence from gangs, and a massive surge of migrants. Additionally, no one would likely be rolling out the red carpet for Juan Orlando Hernández after everything he’s done — you know, all of that chaos and violence he stirred up during his two terms as president.
So, for the time being, it’s here, in the United States, that Juan and Ana will remain, at the pleasure of President Donald J. Trump, who is a friend, protector, and pardoner to so many felons, many of whom do more than just dabble in the drug trade.
Here is a sprinkling of the individuals who have been blessed by Trump pardons:
Darknet marketplace drug trafficker, owner of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht
Billionaire owner of Binance (with close ties to Trump’s World Liberty Financial), launderer of money for terrorist organizations, narcotics traffickers, child sex traffickers, and ransomware attackers, Changpeng Zhao
Co-founder of Death Row Records, drug dealer, Michael Harris
Leader of Gangster Disciples, murderer, drug kingpin, Larry Hoover
Former Mexican Defense Minister and “Godfather” to the H-2 drug cartel, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda
Former President of Honduras, drug kingpin, Juan Orlando Hernández
Nurse practitioner, illegal distributor of opioids, Jean Pickard
Drug smuggler, money launderer, Jonathan Braun
Owner, American Therapeutic, fraudster, money launderer, Lawrence Duran
1600+ folks who stormed the Capitol and assaulted police on 1/6/2021
77 fake electors who tried to overturn the 2020 election
Personal attorney to the president, Rudy Giuliani
Former chief of staff, Mark Meadows
Former owner of a collapsed nursing home empire, Joseph Schwartz
GOP politicians Michael Grimm, Jeremy Hutchinson, Glen Casada, George Santos, and Diane Harshbarger
Democratic politician, Henry Cuellar
Former Connecticut governor, John Rowland
Murderers, Andrew Zabovsky and Terence Sutton
Former Illinois governor, Rob Blagojevich
Hundreds of business execs accused of committing fraud and bilking clients
Crypto scammers, Arthur Hays, Ben Delo, Samuel Reed, and Gregory Dwyer
Former campaign vice chairman, Rick Gates
Former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen
Former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort
Former adviser and campaign aide, Roger Stone
Former White House national security advisor, Michael Flynn
Former campaign advisor, George Papadopoulos
The Trump Organization’s former CFO, Allen Weisselberg
Former chief strategist, Steve Bannon
Former inaugural committee chair, Tom Barrack
Vice chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, Elliot Broidy
And so many others
Clearly, Trump’s mission is to normalize corruption.
It should be noted that, stupidly, in 2016, under Barack Obama’s watch, the U.S. State Department lent financial support to Hernández, imagining him to be one of the good guys. They provided nearly $50 million in aid that was intended to bolster Honduras’s anti-narcotics efforts. All the while, Hernández was colluding with the same folks the United States was attempting to bring down — lovable guys like Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who had passed a cool million to Hernández under the table.
Ah, but these pesky details don’t really matter, do they? Fake news, surely. Juan and Ana — such a cute couple. How could they do any of the bad things of which they’re accused? No way.
Until we understand fully the connections that lie at the heart of Trump’s motivation in his pardoning of Juan Orlando Hernández, I think it’s fair to impute a motive — that this is a vendetta against his predecessor in the White House.
It was under Joe Biden’s watch that Hernández was apprehended (February 2022), and it was on Biden’s watch (March 2024) that Hernández was convicted on three counts of drug trafficking and one count of weapons conspiracy. And it was also on Biden’s watch, the following June, that Hernández, at age 55, was sentenced to 45 years in prison. He would be spending the rest of his life in jail. Or so everyone thought.
Putting a bad guy behind bars for the rest of his life is good, right? Yay, Biden! But apparently, we shouldn’t have been cheering on this win, especially when you-know-who was on the sidelines staring at the scoreboard.
There is no doubt that Trump had been keeping score. And the sport he was playing? One-upmanship. The Hernández conviction was a huge victory for Biden’s DOJ, and there was no way that Trump was going to let that stand. He was intent on taking that win off the scoreboard while simultaneously smearing Biden’s reputation.
And of course, let us not forget the election Trump lost fair and square to Joe Biden on November 3, 2020. Indeed, there was a lot of evening-of-the-score to be done on that significant Trump loss. Why not start by leaving Biden’s official portrait off the White House’s “Presidential Walk of Fame.” It’s pretty weird — there are portraits of 43 of the 44 presidents on the walkway of the West Colonnade, and Biden’s face is noticeably absent. Where the 46th president’s picture might have been is a photo of his autopen.
Considering all the petty stuff Trump does as a matter of course, the reason for the Hernández pardon might be simpler than we thought. Or not. It is conceivable that Trump wanted his list of convicted drug traffickers to be longer than Biden’s. And there is no question he wanted Biden to look weak and more daft than himself.
Add to that the Trump DOJ’s recent string of significant losses and compare those to all that the Biden DOJ accomplished, especially in the way of dismantling large-scale drug trafficking organizations. Consider also what happened to Trump’s DOJ in the last few weeks — think Comey and James, Epstein files, Alina Habba, then James again. Steam was undoubtedly coming out of Trump’s ears. Something had to give.
A Hernández pardon might just do the trick. Undoing part of Biden’s legacy — so satisfying.
As we are all familiar, Trump is famous for his cheating, be it in elections, on his taxes, in his marriages, on the golf course, or in his financial affairs. If pardoning an international drug trafficker meant he could knock even one point off Biden’s side of the scoreboard, it was worth it. Who cares that the people hurt by Hernández were robbed of the justice they deserved? Certainly not Trump. Nor the GOP, it would seem, as we’ve heard nothing from their leadership.
The GOP theme song:
Trump really needed this win because he had been falling behind — what with his DOJ issues, the Epstein fiasco, the economy tanking, falling asleep at the wheel, and his all-time low approval ratings — it appeared no victories were on the horizon. So, Trump had to fabricate one. And a real douzy it was: putting one of Central America’s worst drug traffickers back out onto the streets — the streets of the United States, the country Trump is supposedly protecting from “criminals,” “rapists,” “garbage,” and “leeches” — people who are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
A confusing message this is.
Releasing Juan Orlando Hernández from prison and pretending he had been unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, now there was a spectacle that was sure to stir the MAGA masses. If Karoline Leavitt could get the wording just right, everyone would understand that Trump was winning and that he, once again, had the upper hand.
And that’s all that really matters, isn’t it? That Trump wins.
Fuck him. And fuck the party he rode in on. And don’t be surprised if, after the dust settles in Venezuela and Honduras (and who knows where else), World Liberty Finance sees a massive windfall.
Be sure to read the related article on Maria Corina Machado and her Nobel Peace Prize: “Be Careful What You Wish For.”
Release the drug kingpin but blow up people in boats with no evidence of them actually smuggling drugs in the US - got it. The corruption just keeps on coming, doesn't it. Giving the whole 🍊 💩 and his minions my middle finger - it's all I got. Thank you for keeping us in the know. Eyes wide open!
Great reporting thanks…. Didn’t know about this creep!