In 2024, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was convicted and sentenced by a federal US court to 45 years in prison for his role in the importation of tons of cocaine into the United States. In a surprising twist, Hernández was pardoned and subsequently released by President Donald Trump in December 2025, who claimed the case against the former president was a case of persecution and injustice.
However, audio recordings recently leaked by Hondurasgate and published by multiple media outlets, suggest that Trump’s pardon of the disgraced former Honduran president had different motivations.
The voice recordings suggest that a plan was hatched by the Trump administration, financed by Israeli capital and Argentine President Javier Milei, and agreed upon with local Honduran elites to return the former president to power, persecute the left-wing opposition, and wage campaigns to discredit the progressive governments of Claudia Sheinbaum and Gustavo Petro, among others. A forensic analysis of the explosive recordings was conducted by Phonexia Voice Inspector which confirmed their veracity and authenticity.
The audio recordings rocking Honduras and the rest of Latin America
In one of the recordings, Hernández himself states that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “everything to do” with his release. Furthermore, he says: “The money for the pardon didn’t even come from you. It came from a council of rabbis and from people who supported Israel.”
The audio recordings indicate that his release was just one step in a plan that has a long-term goal of removing a series of legal obstacles in Honduras that are currently preventing Hernández from returning to the presidency.
The former Honduran president, who mentions Trump as a sort of logistical support, says to current President Asfura in a tone of complaint: “I want to believe that you [Asfura] aren’t going to push me aside because, thanks to me, you’re sitting in that chair. President, it’s going to be me. And I expect your support. Because that’s what we discussed with President Trump.”
In this spirit of “return”, Honduran Vice President María Antonieta Mejía tells Hernández: “We’re ready. Four more years – we have to start saying it again right now. The people love President Juan Orlando. They need him in Honduras.” In addition to Mejía, other names appear in the audio recordings, such as the Speaker of Congress, Tomás Zambrano, and Electoral Councilor Cosette López-Osorio, whom some experts claim are part of this scheme.
In exchange for what?
Diario RED, one of the media outlets that has released the audio recordings, states that the recordings clearly indicate that Trump’s political maneuver – though led by Roger Stone, an advisor to the US president – has several objectives that would benefit Washington:
- The construction of a new US military base in Honduras
- A Free Trade Agreement
- The expansion of Special Zones for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDES), also known as “Private States,” in which countries cede part of their territorial sovereignty to private capital. In these zones, the country’s labor codes, minimum wage laws, environmental protection laws, and other legislation do not apply.
- The creation of legislation favorable to investment by US and Israeli artificial intelligence companies in Honduras.
In one of the audio recordings, President Asfura, as if giving an account of his actions, tells Hernández that everything has already been agreed upon, including arrangements in favor of a major US company: “President [Hernández], it’s a pleasure to speak with you. We’ve already had a private meeting with investor circles, and they’re very positive about the expansion of the ZEDE in Roatán and in Comayagua, as well as Palmerola – we’re going to move another Palmerola specifically there in Roatán, where it’s thriving. A base, uh, we’ve already negotiated that. Also the interoceanic project. We’re going to hand it over to General Electric.”
Persecution of the opposition
In another audio recording, former president and convict Hernández, the main Honduran negotiator, pressures the Speaker of Congress, Tomás Zambrano, to strip President Asfura of his decision-making power regarding the impeachment proceedings against the opposition.
Specifically, Hernández asks Zambrano to speed up the legal proceedings against those who reported irregularities in the electoral process, as well as against all those who have filed complaints against Hernández and whose lawsuits are preventing the former president from returning to the political arena.
“You have to regain all the power. And you’re going to do it, because the President [Asfura] isn’t going to do it. The President is busy, traveling here and there. Making friends. And the aid I’m sending. I sent you the people from Israel; they sent you money. I’m the one lobbying here,” Hernández tells Zambrano in another of the audio recordings.
On April 16, with 88 votes in favor, the legislature removed the electoral councilor who had opposed the irregularities in the electoral process (Marlon Ochoa), as well as two members of the Honduran Court of Justice (TJE). This purge had already begun on March 25 with the dismissal of Attorney General Johel Zelaya and the forced resignation of Supreme Court President Rebeca Obando, reported Diario RED.
This has caused great unease among the opposition, not only because of the clear direct influence a former president has on legislative decisions, but also because of the blatant use of “lawfare” (the use of the judicial system to destroy political opponents) in Honduras as a tactic employed by the country’s right wing. “It is a political lawfare operation in which Honduran institutions are acting against the country’s own legal framework to eliminate political opponents,” wrote Diario RED.
This is evident whenever one hears Hernández, in a sadistic manner, asking Zambrano to use all the state’s violence to repress Hondurans. He even goes so far as to mention the notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar: “In Honduras, you need force, you need logistics, you need blood. If you want to keep people under control, you need to oppress them. Squeeze them. Counter violence with violence. That’s what President Trump says, and just imagine he’s going to be there forever. How? I don’t know, but just imagine that, and do as I say. And don’t be so soft … Otherwise, you can’t do the job. That’s what Pablo Escobar said.”
An international conspiracy against Colombia and Mexico?
But the audio recordings have implicated many more countries than just Honduras, the United States, and Israel. According to new recordings leaked by the platform, Hondurasgate, part of the agreement is to destabilize the progressive governments of Colombia, led by Gustavo Petro, and Mexico, under the leadership of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
To achieve this goal, as revealed in the audio recordings, Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei – a staunch ally of Trump and, by extension, of Asfura – is allegedly involved. Thus, a communications team funded by Honduran public resources and the Milei administration was reportedly planning to launch a “media attack” against the governments of Petro in Colombia and Sheinbaum in Mexico.
In one audio recording, former President Hernández tells Asfura in a phone call that a US Republican linked to the Trump administration will participate in the operation: “Please, I need you to send about $150,000 to Rosales’s account, because we’re going to rent an apartment here and set up an office there to establish a digital journalism unit. Someone else from here, from the US President’s team, will handle it for me. Well, he’s one of the Republicans who are collaborating with us. They’re going to set up a news site for us.”
In response, Asfura says: “I’ll transfer it to you from a friend’s account. Let’s see if they can give it to you in cash, but explain to me – what are we going to do with that? What’s in it for us?”
And Hernández states without hesitation: “We’re going to set up a cell, President. From here, from the United States, an informational one, so they can’t track us down in Honduras. It’s going to be like a Latin American news site. I was on a call with President Javier Milei and it went well. Very, very, very good, and I think at this point we can do great things for all of Latin America. There are cases coming against Mexico, cases coming against Colombia, and most importantly against Honduras – in this case, against the Zelaya family.”
In another audio clip, Hernández tells Honduran Vice President Mejía: “With the support of some Republicans to attack and eradicate the cancer of the left in Honduras and throughout Latin America. I was telling President Asfura that we were able to speak with Javier Milei, and he is also contributing $350,000. Another great friend of ours from Mexico is also supporting us, specifically regarding the issue of Mexicans. We’re pretty much ready and waiting for this to move forward strongly.”
Taken together, the leaked recordings suggest an international conspiracy against the Latin American left, involving political coordination, financial support, and media influence. If authentic, the audio reveals that this transnational network has already impacted elections in the region, and attempted to create political instability for democratically-elected presidents. As Colombia and other countries head into their election processes, Hondurasgate raises serious questions about systematic foreign interference and the role of private capital in shaping the politics of the region.
The post Hondurasgate: leaked audio links Asfura, Hernández, Trump, Milei, Netanyahu in anti-left plot appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.
From Peoples Dispatch via This RSS Feed.