Honduras Attorney General Johel Antonio Zelaya announced on Monday that he has issued an international arrest warrant for former president Juan Orlando Hernández, escalating a years-long struggle over accountability for alleged corruption and criminal collusion at the highest levels of government.

Zelaya said on X that Honduras has been “lacerated by the tentacles of corruption and by the criminal networks that have deeply marked the life of our country,” linking the warrant to the upcoming International Day Against Corruption on December 9.

He directed the Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation (ATIC) and called on national security bodies and international partners, including INTERPOL, to act on the order.

The move comes after US President Donald Trump pardoned Hernández last month, overturning his 45-year sentence for drug-trafficking and firearms offenses.

A New York federal jury had convicted Hernández in March 2024 of conspiring to move more than 400 tonnes of cocaine into the United States, accusations prosecutors said he facilitated while in power from 2014 to 2022.

Hernández’s whereabouts remain unclear following the pardon.