Trump pardoned the politician as part of his intervention in the presidential elections Honduran elections last Sunday, in which he supports the right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura, standard-bearer of the National Party, with which Hernandez governed between 2014 and 2022.

“You analyzed the facts, recognized the injustice, and acted with conviction. You changed my life, sir, and I will never forget it,” Hernandez wrote from the United States in his reappearance on social media after being released from a US prison last Monday.

Hernandez, who had requested a pardon from Trump last October, does not currently plan to return to Honduras or to politics, as he fears for his life, according to his wife, Ana Garcia, in an interview with AFP.

Pardon shook elections

The former president reiterated on

“There was no real evidence, only accusations from criminals seeking revenge. However, the truth of my innocence prevailed,” the 57-year-old lawyer maintained.

During the trial in New York, a witness recounted hearing the former president boast that he was going to “shove the drugs right under the Americans' noses” and they wouldn't “even notice.”

Hernandez's pardon shook up the Honduran general elections, in which the Trump-backed candidate is ahead of right-wing television presenter Salvador Nasralla, although in a virtual tie, after 80% of the ballots had been counted.