Donald Trump has said that he will pardon the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking charges in a US court last year.
The US president said Hernández had been treated very harshly and unfairly in a social media post announcing the move on Friday.
Hernández was found guilty in March 2024 of conspiring to import cocaine into the US, and of possessing machine guns. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Trump also threw his support behind conservative presidential candidate Nasry Tito Asfura in the Central American nation's general election, due to be held on Sunday.
Hernández, a member of the National Party, served as president from 2014 to 2022 and was extradited to the US in April 2022 for trial over a violent drug trafficking conspiracy involving the smuggling of cocaine to the US.
He was convicted by a New York jury two years later.
The upcoming Honduran election remains a toss-up, with polling indicating a close race among three candidates, including Asfura, Rixi Moncada from the ruling left-wing Libre Party, and Salvador Nasralla of the centrist Liberal Party.
Trump characterized Asfura as standing up for democracy and praised him for campaigning against Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of leading a drugs cartel and cited drug trafficking as a justification for military action in the region.
Honduras is currently governed by President Xiomara Castro, who has maintained a cooperative relationship with the US while forging closer ties with Cuba and Venezuela.
However, the US remains engaged in efforts to target transnational organized crime in Central America.
