WASHINGTON: The recently freed former president of Honduras praised US President Donald Trump Wednesday for opening “a lot of people’s eyes in Honduras” by supporting conservative presidential candidate Nasry Asfura.
Juan Orlando Hernandez was freed from serving a 45-year sentence in a US prison after receiving a presidential pardon from Trump, and he is presumed to be staying at an unknown location.
“The Honduran people sent a clear message. Overwhelmingly, they rejected the failed ideology of the radical left, the socialism coming from Venezuela,” Hernandez said in an interview with far-right broadcaster One America News (OAN).
“But we have to understand that they have a playbook. You know, every single election I won, even before the day of the election, the radical left also would say, ‘if we don’t win, we are not going to recognize the results.’“
Trump-backed businessman Asfura has a razor-thin lead in the presidential election over TV personality Salvador Nasralla — also a conservative — but votes are still being counted amid claims of interference.
Suspicions of fraud have been fueled by successive computer failures that have stalled tallying.
The ruling party in Honduras, led by leftist president Xiomara Castro, has rejected the provisional results giving Asfura a slim lead.
The left maintains Trump’s support of Asfura and his pardon of Hernandez amounted to electoral interference.
Extradited by Honduras to face charges in the United States and convicted of drug trafficking, the former leader insists it was all a setup carried out by the previous presidential administration of Joe Biden because his policies were too conservative.
Hernandez did not reveal his plans or whether he plans to seek asylum in the United States.
“My priority right now is how I can reunite with my family. I haven’t seen them in four years,” he said.
Asked whether he would be willing to seek asylum in Israel, where he forged strong ties by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital, Hernandez said it would be “a very complicated move, and I don’t have any financial support to do that.”
In Honduras, the current government’s prosecutor’s office has reopened the arrest warrant facing Hernandez.
“Isn’t that a clear example of political persecution? What I’m going to do right now, I’m working with my lawyers,” he said.
Hernandez added that if he returns to Honduras he will not only face the “political charges, but also there are some documents from the FBI and other US agencies that say there are people who want to target my life and my family.”
Pardoned Honduran ex-president praises Trump
https://arab.news/rd7t2
Pardoned Honduran ex-president praises Trump
- Hernandez did not reveal his plans or whether he plans to seek asylum in the US
Pull him off TV: Steve Bannon shuts down Sen. Lindsey Graham
- Trump’s former chief strategist called for the senator to be registered as a foreign agent
DUBAI: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called on Tuesday for US Senator Lindsey Graham to be registered as a foreign agent of the Israeli government, escalating a growing conservative backlash against the senator’s vocal support for Israel.
Speaking on his podcast “War Room,” Bannon said Graham should be “pulled off of television,” adding: "This is dangerous… because you have guys like Lindsey Graham and dozens more that are doing the wrong thing.”
In a Fox News interview on Monday, Graham said: “To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists… I’m not with you, I’m with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day.”
Graham also urged Gulf Arab states to join military action against Iran. “What I want you to do in the Middle East, to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, [is] step forward and say, ‘this is my fight too, I join America, I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down,’” he said.
In a post on X, Graham questioned the value of a US defense agreement with Saudi Arabia following the evacuation of the American embassy in Riyadh, writing: “Why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
Faisal Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News, responded to Graham’s comments in a Sky News interview, saying: “He flip flops so much, it’s actually entertaining.”
“On one hand, he says he will never set foot in Saudi Arabia. The next day, he’s here signing multimillion-dollar deals.”
“I don’t think anyone here takes him seriously,” Abbas added.
He warned Graham to be careful what he wished for: “Do you really want Saudi Arabia involved in this war putting our oil facilities at risk or do you want us stabilizing the energy markets?”
Graham pressed further, warning that inaction would carry a price. “Hopefully Gulf Cooperation Council countries will get more involved as this fight is in their backyard. If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?”
“Hopefully this changes soon. If not, consequences will follow.”
Graham's remarks drew sharp criticism from Bannon and others including podcast host Megyn Kelly.
She questioned on X whether Graham was overstepping his authority as a senator, writing: “When did Lindsay Graham become our president?”
Kelly also said Graham had threatened Lebanon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region, and Spain within a 24-hour period.
The problem with Graham “isn’t (just) that he’s a homicidal maniac, it’s that Trump likes and is listening to him,” she said in another post.
