The arrest warrant for the nation’s former president comes amid a closely-fought election.
Printed On 9 Dec 2025
Honduras’s prime prosecutor has issued a global arrest warrant for former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, intensifying authorized and political turmoil simply days after the ex-leader walked free from a United States jail.
Legal professional Basic Johel Antonio Zelaya introduced the transfer on Monday in a submit on X, saying he instructed the Agencia Técnica de Investigación Prison, the primary investigative physique of the Public Prosecutor’s Workplace, and urged Interpol “to execute the worldwide arrest warrant towards former President Juan Orlando Hernández”.
Hemos sido lacerados por los tentáculos de la corrupción y por las redes criminales que han marcado profundamente la vida de nuestro país. Es por ello que en el marco del Día Internacional Contra la Corrupción que se conmemora mañana 9 de diciembre, informo al pueblo hondureño… pic.twitter.com/8V4cpyrKq2
— Johel Antonio Zelaya Alvarez (@jaza_hn) December 8, 2025
Zelaya’s announcement comes as Hernandez was launched from a 45-year jail sentence within the US after President Donald Trump pardoned him.
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Hernandez’s spouse, who insists he’s harmless, stated he won’t return to Honduras instantly on account of security issues and that he’s at the moment in a “protected place” within the US.
Hernandez was extradited to the US in 2022, the place New York prosecutors had accused him of three drug- and weapons-related offences and alleged he used his presidency to remodel Honduras right into a “narco-state”.
US prosecutors later secured a conviction, saying Hernandez performed a central position in transferring cocaine by way of Honduras and onward to america. He was handed a 45-year jail sentence on the again of “one of many largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies on the earth”, in response to prosecutors.
On the similar time, Hernandez has been on the centre of investigations in his nation which have focused present and former politicians suspected of diverting public cash. In 2023, together with a number of former officers, he was charged with involvement within the alleged misappropriation of greater than $12m in state funds for his political marketing campaign.
Trump’s choice to pardon Hernandez got here as he urged Hondurans to rally behind presidential candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a member of Hernandez’s right-wing Nationwide Social gathering, within the nation’s November 30 presidential election.
“I shall be granting a Full and Full Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, in response to many individuals that I vastly respect, handled very harshly and unfairly”, Trump wrote in a social media submit final week.
With 97 % of ballots counted, Asfura held 40.52 % of the vote, remaining forward of centrist rival Salvador Nasralla by roughly 42,100 votes.
The tally had already been halted quickly on Friday with 88 % of ballots processed. In response to the Nationwide Electoral Council (CNE), about 16 % of tally sheets contained irregularities requiring additional evaluate, a difficulty it attributed to the corporate managing the vote-counting system.
Worldwide observers have urged authorities to hurry up the counting course of and take steps to reassure voters of its integrity.
