Trump Pardons Honduran Drug Lord, Ignorant of US History
Donald Trump, the perpetual 'law and order' candidate, is reportedly planning to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the former Honduran president convicted of conspiring to import cocaine. Hernández, once lauded by US officials as a key anti-drug ally and recipient of billions in US aid under both Obama and Trump administrations, now faces 45 years. This isn't just a Trump-era peculiarity; it's
practically a playbook. The US has a long tradition of backing authoritarian regimes and allowing drug operations to flourish—from Panama’s Noriega to the Contra drug pipeline in Nicaragua, often in pursuit of 'stability' or 'anti-communism.' So, a US president pardoning a narco-president the US once propped up? How many times must this cycle repeat before we acknowledge the US isn't just fighting
drugs; it's often fueling the fire, or at least strategically looking the other way. One might call it a 'deep state' operation, but really, it's just business as usual, repackaged for a new election cycle.