{"id":352726,"date":"2026-07-26T05:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T05:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/352726\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T05:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T05:59:08","slug":"former-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-returns-to-honduras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/352726\/","title":{"rendered":"Former President Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez returns to Honduras …"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) \u2014 Four years after being extradited to the United States for his drug trafficking trial,<\/a> former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez returns to his country Sunday to face corruption charges that lawyers fear will be a sham process. <\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez, once considered an ally by the U.S. in the drug war, led Honduras from 2014 to 2022, during which he boasted that he would “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos,\u201d<\/a> according to U.S. prosecutors.<\/p>\n

His extradition shortly after leaving office marked a rare chance at justice for Hondurans, who feared his hold on the country’s justice system would never allow a conviction on Honduran soil. <\/p>\n

But the former leader, sentenced to 45 years in prison in the United States,<\/a> was released in December, to the shock of many in the U.S. and Honduras, after receiving a presidential pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>. He said Hern\u00e1ndez did not receive a fair trial and that it was a setup orchestrated by the Biden administration. <\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez now returns to the country to face corruption charges amid concerns that a weak justice system and his party\u2019s return to the presidency<\/a> will ensure his impunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a social majority that is outraged, but doesn\u2019t speak out because of fear,\u201d said Joaqu\u00edn Mej\u00eda, lawyer and researcher for the human rights organization Reflection, Research and Communication Team. “We\u2019re talking about the boss of all drug bosses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez, 57, faces charges related to a case known as Pandora I, which alleges that a network of former high-ranking officials from 2010 to 2013 participated in the expansion and approval of public funds disbursements totaling more than 288 million lempiras ($10.8 million) to various foundations, according to an investigation by the country’s Specialized Prosecutor\u2019s Unit Against Corruption Networks, or UFERCO. <\/p>\n

According to UFERCO, Hern\u00e1ndez benefited from these disbursements, receiving at least 62 million lempiras ($2.3 million) for his political campaign through various schemes, including the creation of shell companies, the use of straw men and fictitious contracts.<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez has said he is innocent and that the case \u201clacks any legal basis.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) \u2014 Four years after being extradited to the United States for his drug trafficking trial,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-352726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}