By Laura Garcia
TEGUCIGALPA, July 26 (Reuters) - Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez returned to Honduras on Sunday, eight months after U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned him while he was serving a 45-year U.S. prison sentence for drug and arms trafficking.
Hernandez, who served two consecutive terms as president from 2014 to 2022, landed at Palmerola International Airport, about 60 km (37 miles) northwest of the capital, Tegucigalpa, on a private flight.
The former president was greeted
by several members of his family, including his mother, daughters and wife Ana Garcia, the latter who ran unsuccessfully for his party's presidential candidature in 2025 but lost to current President Nasry Asfura.
Once on the runway, they knelt down on the asphalt to pray, then waved at hundreds of party supporters who arrived by bus to receive Hernandez before he takes another flight to Toncontin airport in Tegucigalpa.
He is expected to appear before a court on August 3 to face charges of fraud and money laundering. An arrest warrant issued against him was suspended in June, meaning he will not be detained upon arrival.
In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Hernandez, 57, said he would request the charges be dismissed.
"I cannot deny the profound emotion and joy I feel in my heart to be returning home," he wrote on X earlier this month, saying he was counting down the days to see his family.
"It wasn't easy. The process has been extremely difficult ... and what I experienced in prison, I truly wouldn't wish on anyone," he said.
Hernandez's legal challenges date back to his capture in Tegucigalpa in February 2022 and subsequent extradition to the U.S. two months later.
In 2024, a U.S. judge sentenced him to 45 years in prison on charges related to drug and weapons trafficking — allegations he has always denied.
The pardon issued by Trump in late 2025, amid a closely contested presidential election in Honduras, led a presidential candidate and others to complain of U.S. interference in the political process.
The pardon did not, however, impact the charges in Honduras.
A corruption investigation known as "Pandora II" has accused Hernandez and other high-profile officials of diverting nearly $11 million in state funds to political campaigns between 2010 and 2013. Some of this money allegedly was used for Hernandez's first presidential campaign.
Charges against former President Porfirio Lobo and ex-finance minister Wilfredo Cerrato — both implicated in the investigation — were dismissed.
Hernandez told Reuters he did not rule out standing for office again, although he added it was not in his immediate plans.
But he said he was prepared to share his political experience with those in power: "We have a new leadership in our party; we want to support them."
(Reporting by Laura García and Leonel Estrada in Tegucigalpa; Additional reporting by Diego Oré in Mexico City; Editing by Paul Simao and Nia Williams)
