US President Donald Trump has pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, Honduras' former president convicted of drug trafficking, just days before the country's presidential election. The pardon comes amid extraordinary levels of US interference in Honduran politics, with Trump backing Hernández's ally Nasry "Tito" Asfura for the top spot.
Hernández had been serving a 45-year prison sentence for allegedly creating a cocaine superhighway to the US. His release from prison was confirmed by his wife, Ana García de Hernández, who stated that she and her husband had prayed that Trump would grant him a pardon. The pardon has sparked widespread criticism in Honduras, where many view it as an attempt by the US to influence the election.
In recent days, the Honduran electoral council announced a 30-day delay in announcing the results of the vote, citing technical issues with the count. This has raised concerns among voters and opposition leaders, who have accused the government of trying to manipulate the outcome.
Trump's intervention in the Honduran election has been seen as part of a broader strategy by the US president to use his "war on drugs" to influence elections in countries like Honduras and Venezuela. The US-backed candidate leading in the vote count, Nasry Asfura, was labelled by Trump as a "borderline communist" who was running only to split the vote.
Critics have accused Trump of using his executive powers to interfere in Honduran politics, and some have drawn parallels with previous instances of US intervention in Latin American elections. Gustavo Irías, director of Honduras's Centre for Democracy Studies, has said that Trump's interference "definitely influenced the outcome" of the election.
The delay in announcing the results of the vote has revived traumatic memories of the 2017 election, when Hernández ran for a second term after a court struck down a constitutional ban on re-election. Many voters are now waiting anxiously to see if the official results will confirm or overturn Asfura's lead.
Hernández had been serving a 45-year prison sentence for allegedly creating a cocaine superhighway to the US. His release from prison was confirmed by his wife, Ana García de Hernández, who stated that she and her husband had prayed that Trump would grant him a pardon. The pardon has sparked widespread criticism in Honduras, where many view it as an attempt by the US to influence the election.
In recent days, the Honduran electoral council announced a 30-day delay in announcing the results of the vote, citing technical issues with the count. This has raised concerns among voters and opposition leaders, who have accused the government of trying to manipulate the outcome.
Trump's intervention in the Honduran election has been seen as part of a broader strategy by the US president to use his "war on drugs" to influence elections in countries like Honduras and Venezuela. The US-backed candidate leading in the vote count, Nasry Asfura, was labelled by Trump as a "borderline communist" who was running only to split the vote.
Critics have accused Trump of using his executive powers to interfere in Honduran politics, and some have drawn parallels with previous instances of US intervention in Latin American elections. Gustavo Irías, director of Honduras's Centre for Democracy Studies, has said that Trump's interference "definitely influenced the outcome" of the election.
The delay in announcing the results of the vote has revived traumatic memories of the 2017 election, when Hernández ran for a second term after a court struck down a constitutional ban on re-election. Many voters are now waiting anxiously to see if the official results will confirm or overturn Asfura's lead.
The US is always interfering in Latin American politics 
It's like they think they own the place 
Trump's pardon for Hernández is just the icing on the cake 
I mean, what's next? Is he gonna hand over the keys to Asfura too? 
The fact that Hernandez was only serving 45 years for a crime is crazy 
45 years for something he allegedly did... that's not even life imprisonment 
And now this delay in announcing the results of the vote, I'm getting some serious déjà vu vibes from 2017 
It's all just so suspicious 
! Trump just used his power to pardon someone involved in serious crime and it just happens right before an election? Like, what's next?! He's literally trying to meddle in a foreign country's politics for his own weird agenda 
. And now the Honduran electoral council is delaying the results? That's just a recipe for disaster 
. It's like they're waiting for something to go wrong so they can blame it on Trump's meddling 
. This whole thing reeks of corruption and manipulation 
. Can't we just focus on fair elections instead of interference and backroom deals?! 
. As for the delay in announcing the results, it's probably just to ensure everything goes smoothly and Asfura wins fair and square 
. The opposition is just being paranoid again, like they always are 
. It's like, can't a country just govern itself for once? 
Meanwhile, this comes at a time when Honduras is trying to figure out who won the election. The delay in announcing results has got everyone on edge. Did Trump do it again?! 
And yeah, it's totally understandable why the Honduran electoral council needs 30 days to count those votes - they need all the time they can get to make sure the outcome is completely unbiased and free from any US interference. I'm sure Trump's "war on drugs" is just a clever ruse to distract us from his actual agenda... like, what's next? 
... and what's with trump calling asfura a "borderline communist"? is that really necessary? 
It's just too suspicious.
. and on top of that, US interference in Honduran politics is already super sketchy... like what's next? 
can someone explain this whole situation to me? 
. The timing of this pardon, with the election just around the corner, reeks of an attempt to manipulate the outcome and secure a favorable candidate for Trump's "war on drugs" agenda 
. It's also worrying that the Honduran electoral council has delayed announcing the results, which could lead to widespread uncertainty and disenfranchisement among voters 
