Honduran ex-president controversially pardoned by Trump speaks to

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Honduran ex-president controversially pardoned by Trump speaks to BBC45 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleWill GrantBBC's Mexico, Central America and Cuba correspondent Juan Orlando Hernández: Case was a 'witch-hunt' and different from Nicolás Maduro'sJust a month before US elite troops forcibly removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power, the former president of another country in the region - who had been found guilty of very similar drug trafficking charges - found himself in the opposite situation: pardoned and freed from jail. The ex-president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was serving a 45-year sentence in an American prison when US President Donald Trump granted him a "full and complete pardon", prompting an outcry among human rights groups and victims across Central America. Speaking to the from the US, Hernández says he is "thankful and just trying to rebuild his life" after the extraordinary turnaround which saw him released from Hazelton maximum security prison in West Virginia in December, after almost four years behind bars.

Trump had announced the pardon on social media on 28 November, just two days before the general election in Honduras. In his Truth Social post, he also threatened to withhold funding from the Central American nation unless his favoured presidential candidate – Nasry Asfura from Hernández's conservative party – won, which after a close race and a delayed count, Asfura did. Trump's interest in Honduras, and who runs it, can be explained by his administration's wider considerations in the Western Hemisphere, specifically the self-dubbed "Donroe Doctrine", under which Washington views the Americas as its sphere of influence.

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Trump's pardon of Hernández, who prosecutors said had "partnered with some of the world's most prolific narcotics traffickers to build a corrupt and brutally violent empire based on the illegal trafficking of tonnes of cocaine to the United States" appears at odds with Trump's war on drugs. KENA BETANCUR/ via Getty ImagesHonduran demonstrators held a vigil outside the court where Hernández was sentencedChallenged on whether he received the pardon for purely political reasons, aligning with Trump's policy in the region, Hernández robustly denies it. Unsurprisingly, Hernández also refutes any idea that he and Venezuela's Maduro are just two sides of the same coin – that is, presidents on the right and left respectively, both accused of drug-trafficking, one who could count on Trump's backing and one who could not..

"My case is completely different," he insists. Instead, he believes Hondurans will appreciate that a "narrative" was constructed around his criminal past created by "leftist politicians in Honduras in tandem with left-wing politicians in Venezuela". "There is a very strong connection between the two," he argues, referring to both a political connection and an alleged criminal one.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.