The arrest warrant for the country’s former president comes amid a close election.
Published December 9, 2025
Honduras’ top prosecutor has issued an international arrest warrant for former President Juan Orlando Hernández, intensifying the legal and political turmoil just days after he was released from a US prison.
Attorney General Joher Antonio Zelaya announced the move in a post on X on Monday, saying he had instructed the Criminal Division, the prosecutor’s office’s main investigative arm, and urged Interpol to “execute the international arrest warrant against former President Juan Orlando Hernández.”
The threat of corruption and crime poses a serious threat of crime. On September 9th, Marco del Dia International Contra La Corpución caused a memorable incident and informed the Honjureño… pic.twitter.com/8V4cpyrKq2
— Joher Antonio Zelaya Alvarez (@jaza_hn) December 8, 2025
Zelaya’s announcement comes after Hernandez was pardoned by President Donald Trump and released from a 45-year prison sentence in the United States.
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Hernandez’s wife has maintained his innocence and said he will not be returning to Honduras immediately due to safety concerns and is currently in a “safe location” in the United States.
Hernandez will be extradited to the United States in 2022, where New York prosecutors have charged him with three drug and weapons-related crimes, alleging that he used his presidency to turn Honduras into a “narcostate.”
U.S. prosecutors later confirmed Hernandez’s conviction, alleging that he played a central role in transporting cocaine to the United States through Honduras. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison for “one of the world’s largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies,” prosecutors said.
At the same time, Mr. Hernandez is at the center of a domestic investigation into current and former politicians suspected of misappropriating public funds. In 2023, he was indicted along with several former officials for embezzling more than $12 million in state funds for political activities.
President Trump’s decision to pardon Hernandez comes after he called on Hondurans to support presidential candidate Nasry “Tito” Asufura, a member of Hernandez’s right-wing National Party, in the November 30 presidential election.
“I am extending a full and complete pardon to former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who, according to many people I respect, has been treated very harshly and unjustly,” Trump said in a social media post last week.
With 97% of votes counted, Asfullah held 40.52% of the vote, about 42,100 votes ahead of his centrist rival Salvador Nasrallah.
By Friday, 88% of the ballots had been processed and counting had already been temporarily halted. According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), about 16% of the tabulation sheets contained irregularities that require further scrutiny, and the problem is believed to be caused by the company managing the vote counting system.
International observers are calling on authorities to speed up the counting process and take steps to reassure voters of their integrity.
