麻豆社

President Donald Trump has pardoned Juan Orlando Hern谩ndez, a former president of Honduras who was serving a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking and weapons offences.

It was only last year that Hern谩ndez was convicted in a New York courtroom of being part of a huge drug trafficking conspiracy, after being extradited to the US. Prosecutors said the operation flooded America with cocaine and turned Honduras into a 鈥渘arco-state鈥�. But Trump has claimed the investigation was a Biden administration 鈥渟et up鈥�, and Hern谩ndez is now a free man.

As the Trump administration ramps up its military threats against Latin American drug cartels, including multiple strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean, why has it pardoned Hern谩ndez? Will Grant reports.

Producer: Xandra Ellin, Hannah Moore and Viv Jones

Executive producer: James Shield

Sound engineer: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

(Photo: Juan Orlando Hernandez being escorted by US agents for extradition in 2022. Credit: Fredy Rodriguez/Reuters)