WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump, who has painted himself as a warrior against illegal drugs, pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was released from a U.S. prison where he was serving a 45-year sentence on drug trafficking and firearms charges.

Trump signed the pardon for Hernandez on Monday night, a White House official said. He was released from prison in Hazelton, West Virginia, on Monday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons registry.

Trump, who has cited the dangers of illegal drug flows from Latin America as justification for a series of U.S. attacks on boats in the Caribbean and a military buildup near Venezuela, pledged on Friday to pardon Hernandez, who he said had been treated unfairly. A Manhattan jury found Hernandez guilty in March 2024 of

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