Hondurans disillusioned with president amid scandal and cancellation of US treaty

An incriminating admission by the brother-in-law of the president of Honduras just days after the nation announced that would terminate its extradition treaty with the United States is stoking fears among Hondurans that the legacy of corruption in the country continues.

President Xiomara Castro had inspired hope when she was elected to be the Central American country’s first woman leader in 2021, based on her promise to “bring Honduras out of the abyss into which neoliberalism, narco-dictatorship and corruption have buried us.”

Despite being married to former President Manuel Zelaya Rosales — who was overthrown in a 2009 coup — Castro was a breath of fresh air for many Hondurans following the presidency of Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced in June to 45 years in prison by a U.S. court on drug trafficking charges.

But as gang violence has continued to rock Honduras and scandals have plagued Castro’s government, frustration has replaced that initial optimism for many Hondurans, who now see in her the same kind of corrupt rulers who have long run their country.

“We thought corruption would end with Xiomara Castro, because they were supposed to be different from previous governments, but they have turned out to be the same or worse,” said Gabriel Hernandez, 44, who works in marketing in the capital Tegucigalpa.

The most recent blow came this weekend, when Castro’s brother-in-law, Carlos Zelaya — a congressman for the Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) party and secretary of Congress — acknowledged that he had met with the leader of the drug trafficking organization “Los Cachiros” in 2013.

Zelaya, brother of former President Manuel Zelaya, revealed the details to the press when he appeared before the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Saturday to testify regarding an investigation into his alleged links to drug trafficking.

He said the drug lord offered to support Libre’s campaign that year, when Castro unsuccessfully ran for president. Zelaya said he was unaware at the time that the people who attended the meeting were linked to drug trafficking.

“Eleven years ago, I was invited to participate in a meeting with a group of businessmen who wanted to make a contribution to the campaign,” Zelaya told reporters upon leaving the Public Prosecutor’s Office. “I am convinced that the meeting was recorded, with everything that happened there. I fell into a trap, and I assume my responsibility.”

He made the admission just days after Honduras’s foreign minister, Enrique Reina, announced that the country would end an extradition treaty with Washington following a dispute with an American diplomat. The treaty had been in place for more than a century. Since 2014, a total of 64 Hondurans have been extradited to the United States, largely on drug trafficking charges. One of them was former President Hernández.

“I don’t think this is a coincidence, I don’t think it’s random… This is an issue that could be a turning point in Castro’s presidency,” said Tiziano Breda, a Central America expert at Italy’s Affari Internazionali Institute. “Unless Castro backs down and reinstates the extradition treaty, this move will inevitably be seen as a way to protect his family.”

Those suspicions were shared by Hondurans like Hernandez, the marketing worker, who said that even “any ordinary person like me” can tell that this is no coincidence.

The discontent could be a political drag on Castro and his party in the run-up to next year’s elections, Breda said. The government’s recent moves “weaken the argument that brought Libre to power, which was basically to expel the corrupt elite that was in cahoots with drug trafficking organizations,” he added.

Frustrations among Hondurans coincide with a decline in public approval of the president’s performance. Unemployment, the economic crisis and failure to reduce levels of violence are exacerbating this discontent.

“I think it is common for politicians to make these kinds of moves. They are always looking for ways to avoid justice, to avoid being accountable to the population, to hide their misdeeds and thus continue their legacy of corruption, which ultimately never ends,” Hernández said.

This is not the first time Castro has faced criticism for apparent corruption.
Last year, the head of a Honduran anti-corruption organization fled the country with her family after receiving threats after publishing a report on nepotism in the Castro government. The organization had warned of a concentration of power because some government posts were being filled by Castro’s children and other relatives of her and her husband, the former president.

Carlos Zelaya’s announcement was followed by another from his son, the Minister of Defense, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, who presented his resignation with the aim of ensuring that there is an objective investigation into his father.

On Sunday, Castro announced that Zelaya Rosales, his nephew, would be replaced as defense minister by Rixi Moncada Godoy, who is seeking the presidency.
Castro said he appointed lawyer Moncada Godoy “to raise our flag high and remind us that our true value lies in a dignified, resilient people determined to forge their own destiny.”

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