Cuba has called the United States' so-called war on drugs a "farce" after former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022), convicted of drug trafficking in the U.S., was pardoned. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez used his X account to denounce that this action by the Donald Trump administration "evidences" the double standard of Washington, according to the Argentine News Agency. Rodriguez stated that the pardon, which released Hernández – sentenced to 45 years in prison for trafficking over 400 tons of cocaine to the U.S. – exposes the "complicity" of the U.S. administration and its agencies with the multi-million dollar drug business. Furthermore, the Cuban minister asserted that Washington "seeks to justify its costly extraordinary naval deployment in the Caribbean Sea and the threat of military aggression to overthrow the legitimate government of Venezuela" with its supposed anti-drug campaign. Trump's decision, announced on Monday night (and anticipated on Friday), comes amid a major U.S. military offensive against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America, which has even caused more than 80 deaths in attacks on vessels in Caribbean and Pacific waters. This manifest contradiction in U.S. foreign policy was not only pointed out by various analysts in the region but also generated criticism within the Republican Party itself.
