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COMMENTARY President Trump's pardon of a former Honduran president and convicted drug trafficker follows the South Florida exile doctrine that Latin American conservatives are never guilty.
To the many South Floridians who are ideologically programmed to believe that the clemency President Donald Trump gifted former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hern谩ndez this week was proper, here鈥檚 a reminder:
Hern谩ndez is the mirror image of your archenemy, Venezuelan dictator Nicol谩s Maduro.
Maybe not physically 鈥� unless you shave off Maduro鈥檚 Captain Kangaroo moustache. But morally, Maduro and Hern谩ndez were separated at birth.
Both embody every disgusting, tinpot caricature of Latin American leadership.
Both are surrealistically 鈥� if not murderously 鈥� corrupt.
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Yes, Maduro鈥檚 regime has perpetrated larceny so epic it led to the worst humanitarian crisis in modern South American history 鈥� and forced almost a quarter of Venezuela鈥檚 population to emigrate.
And guess what? Hern谩ndez鈥檚 National Party once siphoned $350 million in public healthcare funds into his presidential campaign 鈥� just one example of the barefaced embezzlement that compelled hundreds of thousands of Hondurans to head for the U.S. in the 2010s.
Maduro last year stole a presidential election he鈥檇 lost in a landslide 鈥� then jailed thousands, while his security forces killed dozens, who protested his gobsmacking fraud.
Eight years ago, Hern谩ndez engineered his own re-election theft 鈥� he was well behind when the vote-counting system mysteriously crashed, and was suddenly well ahead when it re-booted 鈥� then sent his military to assail outraged demonstrators. Many died.
Did we mention drugs?
Maduro is under indictment in the U.S. for narco-trafficking.
Last year a federal jury in New York convicted Hern谩ndez 鈥� whose million-dollar bribery bromance with Mexican drug lord Joaqu铆n 鈥淓l Chapo鈥� Guzm谩n was so appalling even Honduras鈥� graft-friendly Supreme Court extradited him to the U.S. when his presidency ended in 2022. Hern谩ndez was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
When drug lords were greasing Hern谩ndez's palm, few if any South Florida GOP politicos or exile leaders rose to even slap Hern谩ndez's wrist.
But here鈥檚 the difference 鈥� a difference that shouldn鈥檛 make a difference, but does, especially here in South Florida, where the difference is most fiercely enforced.
Maduro is left-wing, a socialist. Hern谩ndez is right-wing.
So, according to Trump and the anti-socialista dogma he panders to in South Florida鈥檚 exile communities, Hern谩ndez is incapable of committing any crime a Marxist could.
Shocking cognitive dissonance
That鈥檚 why Trump this week pardoned Hern谩ndez 鈥� who he ludicrously claims was 鈥渢reated harshly.鈥�
And it鈥檚 why Trump dismisses the shocking cognitive dissonance of having the U.S. military kill (unlawfully, say war experts) suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers on the Caribbean 鈥� and perhaps go after Maduro 鈥� while freeing a Honduran drug trafficker who helped Mexico鈥檚 top cartel flood America with cocaine.
Trump鈥檚 projecting the 鈥渉arsh鈥� judicial treatment he insists he鈥檚 received as a right-winger onto Hern谩ndez鈥檚 case and those of other fellow reactionaries.
They include former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose sedition conviction this year Trump tried unsuccessfully to block by levying severe tariffs on Brazilian goods.
Trump believes 鈥� as he did this year when he pardoned 1,500 MAGA militants convicted for their seditious Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol after his own 2020 re-election defeat 鈥� that conservatives鈥� felonies can and should be erased.
Especially when those conservatives have aided Trump efforts like his anti-immigration crusade 鈥� as Hern谩ndez did when he turned Honduras into a migrant holding pen during Trump鈥檚 first administration.
And that鈥檚 a reminder that when it comes to Latin America, Trump鈥檚 hypocrisy takes its cue from South Florida鈥檚 brazen double standard.
Be it Hern谩ndez, Bolsonaro, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele or former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, corrupt and authoritarian right-wing leaders get a pass because they wear a halo of opposition to the corrupt and authoritarian left-wing regimes so many exiles here fled.
When El Chapo was greasing Hern谩ndez鈥檚 palm, few if any South Florida GOP politicos stood up to even slap Hern谩ndez鈥檚 wrist.
That would have betrayed the anti-comunista code.
Yet we could be seeing cracks in that blind devotion.
This week Republican Miami Congresswoman Mar铆a Elvira Salazar 鈥� usually a high priestess of the LatAm-right-can-do-no-wrong doctrine 鈥� actually contradicted Trump , 鈥淚 would have never鈥� pardoned Hern谩ndez. She even agreed the Honduran is a 鈥渢hug.鈥�
Meanwhile, Honduran voters on Sunday may have ignored Trump鈥檚 threat of U.S. aid cuts and rejected the presidential candidate he endorsed, Nasry Asfura 鈥� the one from Hern谩ndez鈥檚 party.
As of Thursday morning, the ongoing vote count showed Asfura neck-and-neck with centrist Salvador Nasralla.
Poor Asfura if he loses. He'll be another right-winger who was treated harshly in this hemisphere.
