A former president of Honduras who was convicted of drug trafficking has walked free from a US prison after receiving a pardon from Donald Trump , as the country’s presidential election remained on a knife edge with the US-backed candidate leading by 515 votes.

Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”, was released from a West Virginia prison after Trump’s intervention, Hernández’s wife confirmed on Tuesday.

It came as Trump steps up his “war on drugs” with airstrikes on alleged traffickers in the Caribbean, and a massive US naval force off the coast of Venezuela.

The pardon was issued amid extraordinary levels of US interference in the Honduran election. Trump threw his support behind Hernánde

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