In an interview with Radio Progreso, lawyer Joaquín Mejía, a human rights expert and member of the Reflection and Communication Team (ERIC), analyzed the pardon granted by US President Donald Trump to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted in the United States for drug trafficking-related crimes. Mejía pointed out that the measure does not erase his criminal record nor prevent him from being investigated in Honduras.

According to the lawyer, from a legal standpoint, the US Constitution grants the president the power to grant pardons, but he clarified that this does not declare the beneficiary innocent.

“Juan Orlando Hernández will continue to appear in the United States as a convicted drug trafficker. The pardon only forgives the consequences of the crime; it does not eliminate guilt,” he emphasized.

Juan Orlando Hernández was released on December 2, as confirmed by his lawyer, Renato Stabile, to the New York Times. Hernández left the Hazelton maximum-security prison in West Virginia, where he was serving a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking in a U.S. federal court.

With his release, the pardon granted by President Donald Trump took effect.

The lawyer stated that the pardon does not prevent Hernández from being investigated and prosecuted in Honduras for crimes committed on national territory, including drug trafficking, corruption, and serious human rights violations, particularly during the 2017 post-election crisis, when more than 30 people were killed in the context of protests. Among those killed is Hernández in the Pandora 2 case, for which an arrest warrant issued based on a 2023 indictment remains in effect.

In this regard, he considered it urgent that the Public Prosecutor’s Office form or activate a specialized team in anticipation of the former president’s potential return.

On the political front, Mejía questioned the ethics of the process, citing US media reports indicating that Donald Trump has used pardons as a discretionary and even commercialized practice.

He added that the decision reveals, according to him, that “the United States has no friends or allies, only interests,” and that the measure exposes the contradictions in the US discourse on the fight against drug trafficking.

Mejía warned that the pardon strengthens the criminal structures that operated during Hernández’s administration and which, according to him, were never dismantled. “They remain present in public institutions, economic sectors, and some churches. To think that drug trafficking ended with Juan Orlando’s departure is naive,” he stated.

Regarding whether Hernández could resume political activities upon his return to the country, Mejía indicated that he faces no restrictions, provided the Public Prosecutor’s Office does not file charges against him.

When asked about the impact on victims of human rights violations committed during Hernández’s governments, Mejía warned that his return, coupled with a possible victory for the Liberal or National party, could lead to a realignment of political, economic, and criminal elites, which he described as a «dark» scenario for the country.