Overview
- Former president Juan Orlando Hernández returned to Honduras on July 26 after President Donald Trump pardoned his 45‑year U.S. sentence, clearing the way for his homecoming.
- A Honduran judge upheld the suspension of Hernández’s domestic arrest warrant and denied prosecutors’ request for pretrial detention while placing him under a travel ban and weekly court check‑ins.
- Hernández was formally charged with money laundering and fraud in the Pandora I case, which UFERCO says involves more than $10.8 million in irregular public disbursements and roughly $2.3 million channeled to his 2013 campaign.
- His return and the timing of the U.S. pardon, which followed public U.S. pressure that favored National Party ally Nasry Asfura during the 2025 election, have intensified political tensions and split public opinion.
- Hernández is seeking the return of about 130 assets seized at his extradition, and earlier dismissals of related Pandora cases have heightened concerns that the proceedings will shape institutional trust and the balance of power inside the National Party.