TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras Attorney General Johel Zelaya said Monday that he had ordered Honduran authorities and asked Interpol to execute a 2023 arrest order for ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández, pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Hernández was released from federal prison in the United States last week after Trump pardoned him. Hernández had been sentenced in U.S. federal court last year to 45 years in prison for helping move tons of cocaine to the United States.

Hernández went from supposed U.S. ally in the war on drugs to the subject of a U.S. extradition request shortly after he left office in 2022. He was detained and sent to the U.S. by current President Xiomara Castro of the social democrat LIBRE party.

Zelaya included a photo of the two-year-old order signed by a Supreme Court magistrate for alleged fraud and money laundering charges. The order says that it must be executed “in the case that the accused is freed by United States authorities.”

Dozens of Honduran officials and politicians were implicated in the so-called Pandora case in which Honduran prosecutors alleged government funds were diverted through a network on nongovernmental organizations to political parties, including Hernández’s 2013 presidential campaign.

A lawyer for Hernández, Renato Stabile, said in an email that, “This is obviously a strictly political move on behalf of the defeated Libre party to try to intimidate President Hernandez as they are being kicked out of power in Honduras. It is shameful and a desperate piece of political theatre and these charges are completely baseless.”

Zelaya had said after Trump announced his intention to pardon Hernández that his office would have to take action to end impunity.

Hernández’s wife said after his release that the former president was in an undisclosed location for his safety.

The drama comes while Honduras is still waiting to find out who its next president will be.

Trump endorsed Nasry Asfura, a former Tegucigalpa mayor from Hernández’s conservative National Party. Asfura was leading Salvador Nasralla, also a conservative from the Liberal Party, by barely a percentage point as the vote count slowly advanced.

An Asfura victory could potentially smooth the way for Hernández’s eventual return to Honduras. Nasralla has made fighting corruption the centerpiece of his campaign and has said Hernández stole the 2017 election from him in a vote that was full of irregularities.

Hernández always denied any wrongdoing while in office and insisted he was among the strongest antidrug allies of the United States.

Trump had announced his intention to pardon Hernández just days before Honduras’ national elections, throwing a new element into a close contest. While some Hondurans remain nostalgic for Hernández’s two terms in office, many were shocked that a man convicted of drug trafficking in a closely watched trial could suddenly be released early in his sentence.

Trump said Hondurans had requested the pardon for Hernández and that after looking at his case he decided Hernández had been unfairly treated by prosecutors.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras’ former President Juan Orlando Hernández thanked U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday for pardoning him in his first communication since being released from a U.S. prison.

Hernández was one year into a 45-year prison sentence for helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the U.S. in exchange for bribes that fueled his political rise.

Trump shocked Hondurans last Friday by announcing his intention to pardon Hernández two days before the country’s national elections, arguing that that the former leader had been the victim of an unjust and politically-motivated prosecution.

“I said it as I left my home, I said it as I was wrongfully convicted, and I will say it again now that I have my liberty. I am innocent,” Hernández posted to X Wednesday.

“You changed my life, sir, and I will never forget it.”

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday that Hondurans had asked him to pardon Hernández.

“They (U.S. prosecutors) basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a Biden administration set-up,” Trump said. “And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.”

Hernández was released Monday from U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia. His wife, Ana García, confirmed his release early Tuesday.

García said Hernández was in an undisclosed location for his safety.

García said Hernández began seeking a pardon began several months ago with a petition to the office of pardons. Then on Oct. 28 — his birthday — he wrote a letter to Trump.

In the days before Honduras held an election, Trump also endorsed a presidential candidate from Hernández’s conservative National Party.

As the vote count advanced Wednesday, National Party candidate Nasry Asfura trailed Salvador Nasralla of the conservative Liberal Party by less than 1% of the votes counted.

Hernández has portrayed himself as a hero of the anti-drug trafficking movement who teamed up with American authorities under three U.S. presidential administrations to reduce drug imports.

Hernández was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, weeks after current President Xiomara Castro took office.

Two years later, Hernández was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a New York federal courtroom for taking bribes from drug traffickers so they could move some 400 tons (360 metric tons) of cocaine north through Honduras to the United States.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump, his wife announced Tuesday.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate website showed that Hernández was released from U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday and a spokesperson for the bureau on Tuesday confirmed his release.

His wife Ana García thanked Trump for pardoning Hernández via the social platform X early Tuesday.

“After almost four years of pain, of waiting and difficult challenges, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” García’s post said. She included a picture of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons listing for Hernández indicating his release.

Hernández was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, weeks after handing over power to current President Xiomara Castro.

Two years later, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a New York federal courtroom for taking bribes from drug traffickers so they could safely move some 400 tons of cocaine north through Honduras to the United States.

Hernández maintained throughout that he was innocent and the victim of revenge by drug traffickers he had helped extradite to the United States.

On Sunday, Trump was asked about why he pardoned Hernandez by reporters traveling with him on Air Force One.

“I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras,” Trump said.

“The people of Honduras really thought he was set up, and it was a terrible thing,” he said.

“They basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a Biden administration set-up. And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.”

The pardon promised by Trump days before Honduras’ presidential election injected a new element into the contest that some said helped the candidate from his National Party Nasry Asfura, one of the leaders as the vote count proceeded Tuesday.