Tegucigalpa, Sep 4 (EFE).- The head of the National Anti-Corruption Council (CNA) in Honduras, Gabriela Castellanos, demanded on Wednesday the resignation of Honduran President Xiomara Castro, following the release of a video of a meeting held in 2013 between her brother-in-law, Carlos Zelaya, and drug traffickers, in which contributions to the campaign of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre) were discussed.
Castellano posted a letter on her social media in which she formally requests Castro’s “resignation” as president of the Central American country.
“This request is based on the serious accusations of drug trafficking that have been brought against the family, whom you have appointed to structure the State in the different ministries, clearly collapsed by organized crime,” Castellanos said in his letter.
“This constitutes a serious violation of public trust and of the ethical principles that should govern the performance of any public servant,” the document adds.
He stressed that “ignoring these links and attacking other suspects, as a desperate measure to discredit these serious accusations, will not make citizens forget that we are still in a narco-state, with leaders who have come to power using money from organized crime and have been benefited by those who currently administer justice.”
Castro’s continuity threatens peace
The head of the anti-corruption agency said that Castro’s continued presidency of Honduras “not only undermines the credibility of the rule of law, but also disrupts the peace and security of the population.”
For this reason, he added, “his resignation is a duty to restore integrity and political morality in the public service of Honduras.”
According to a report and video by the US-based non-governmental organization InSight Crime (Organized Crime in the Americas), released Tuesday by the local Honduran press, Carlos Zelaya, Castro’s brother-in-law and brother of former President Manuel Zelaya, met in November 2013 with drug traffickers who offered to donate more than $500,000 to the Libre party campaign.
Carlos Zelaya admitted last Saturday that he met with drug traffickers who offered him contributions for the campaign of the Libre Party, although he denied having received any money, and announced his resignation as secretary and deputy of the Honduran Parliament.
Regarding the video of the 2013 meeting, the Honduran president said Tuesday night that “I condemn all types of negotiations between drug traffickers and politicians.”
Castro also denounced the existence of a plan aimed at “destroying” his government and “dealing a new coup d’état” in the country.
“The plan to destroy my socialist, democratic government and the upcoming electoral process is underway. The same dark internal and external forces of 2009, with the complicity of the national and international corporate media, are reorganizing in our country to carry out a new coup d’état, which the people must repel,” the president emphasized.
Castro also said that he will not allow “the current treaty with the United States to be selectively exploited to dismantle the Armed Forces, overthrow my government and destroy the elections” that the country will hold in 2025.
The Honduran president on Wednesday “terminated” the extradition treaty with the United States amid diplomatic tension with the US ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Laura Dogu, for criticizing a recent meeting between Honduran authorities and the sanctioned Venezuelan Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López.
The Honduran government revealed on radio and television a list of politicians facing legal charges for drug trafficking in the United States, most of them from the National Party, the main opposition force.
(c) EFE Agency
