Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has returned to Honduras from the United States after President Donald Trump pardoned him following a 45-year prison sentence for drug trafficking.
Hernandez arrived in the Central American country on Sunday, four years after being extradited to the US. He is now due to face trial in Honduras on fraud and money-laundering charges, but activists worry that he will not receive real justice.
Trump granted Hernandez a presidential pardon in December, claiming that he did not receive a fair trial and was set up by former President Joe Biden's administration.
“I cannot deny the profound emotion and joy I feel in my heart to be returning home,” Hernandez wrote on social media earlier this month, saying he was counting down the days to see his family.
“It wasn’t easy. The process has been extremely difficult … and what I experienced in prison, I truly wouldn’t wish on anyone,” he added.
Upon arrival at Palmerola International Airport, he was greeted by his family and dozens of supporters from his National Party.
Despite the pardon on US charges, Hernandez is expected to appear in court on August 3 to face Honduran charges. However, he was not detained upon arrival because an arrest warrant was suspended in June, and local activists are concerned that the trial will be a sham.
“Everything points to the suspension being the first step,” said Joaquin Mejia, a lawyer and researcher for the Reflection, Research and Communication Team, a human rights organization.
“He’ll come, they’ll likely issue him alternative measures to imprisonment to keep up appearances, and then he’ll end up without any problem, without any sanction.”
“There is a social majority that is outraged but doesn’t speak out because of fear,” Mejia added. “We’re talking about the boss of all drug bosses.”
Hernandez, once considered an ally by the US in its “war on drugs”, led Honduras from 2014 to 2022. During that time, he allegedly told drug dealers at a meeting that they would “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos,” according to a US prosecutor at his trial in New York.
A Pandora Papers corruption investigation accused Hernandez and other high-profile officials of diverting nearly $11 million in state funds to political campaigns from 2010 to 2013. Some of this money was allegedly used for Hernandez’s first presidential campaign.
Former President Porfirio Lobo and ex-Finance Minister Wilfredo Cerrato were both implicated in the same investigation, and the charges against them were dismissed.
Source: www.aljazeera.com