Dec. 8, 2025
Trump's drug war: Death for some, clemency for another
President Trump's pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of trafficking over 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., has drawn widespread criticism as contradictory to his simultaneous military escalation against drug traffickers.
John H. Minan
Emeritus Professor of Law
University of San Diego School of Law
Professor Minan is a former attorney with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and the former chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Board.
President Donald Trump's unchecked "war on drugs" is using the military to combat drug trafficking. It has come under increased public scrutiny in the United States and by the international community due to military air strikes against alleged drug smuggling vessels, the killing of non-combatants in international waters and declaring that Venezuelan airspace should be considered "closed in its entirety."
Trump has added an accelerant to the scruti...
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