1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

Juan Orlando Hernández is a powerful man. He was president of his country, Honduras, for eight years. He once accepted a $1 million bribe from El Chapo. According to the DOJ, he sought to “stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.” Hernández was arrested in 2022. Over the course of a three-week trial in New York City, extensive evidence proved that Hernández played a key leadership role in a conspiracy that successfully transported more than half a million kilograms of cocaine through Honduras to the United States. For context, 500,000 kilograms is approximately the cargo capacity of seven Air Force C-17 Globemaster planes. At the conclusion of the trial, a jury found Hernández guilty. A judge sentenced him to 45 years in prison. Throughout the process, he had extensive legal representation. He had every opportunity to present evidence and witnesses to the jury. On Tuesday, Donald Trump issued “a Full and Complete Pardon,” releasing Hernández from prison four decades early. Alejandro Carranza, in contrast, was simply a fisherman in the Colombian seaside city of Santa Marta. He was married and had four children. We have no idea whether or not Carranza was secretly a drug trafficker (or even connected to illegal activity); his wife insists “he had no ties to drug trafficking, and his daily activity was fishing.” On Sept. 15, Carranza told his father he was heading to a spot “with good fish.” A friend said, “He went offshore to catch sierra, tuna, and snapper, which are found far out at this time of year.” He was nowhere near U.S. territorial waters, but the Trump administration claims it suspected Carranza’s fishing boat was carrying drugs eventually bound here. Unlike Hernández, though, Carranza did not see a trial. Or even arrest. He had no opportunity to try to dispute the allegation. He was executed by an airstrike as part of a campaign ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In your form letter on this issue, you write “These strikes have been successful in blocking the flow of drugs into our country.” There are 2 issues here: (1) if drugs are the issue, why have you not spoken out about the pardoning of Hernández? And (2) we have no way of knowing if these strikes have been effective for precisely the same reason we have no way of knowing if Carranza (or any of the other 86 people killed in these strikes) was a drug trafficker: they are dead, the evidence is at the bottom of the sea, and there were no trials. Congressional oversight is needed here. Impeach Hegseth.