Xiomara Castro during a trip to Guatemala, June, 2024 - public domain image
By Global News Service
Following the termination of the extradition agreement between Honduras and the United States requested by President Xiomara Castro, the Central American country has experienced a political earthquake. President Castro’s decision was taken after the U.S. ambassador to Honduras Laura Dogu made statements to the Honduran media questioning the meeting of several officials with Venezuelan officials.
The right-wing opposition in the Central American country has accused the executive branch of making the decision due to alleged relations between some government officials and criminal groups. Such rumors increased after Congressperson Carlos Zelaya—brother of former President Manuel Zelaya (the husband of Castro who was ousted in a coup d’état in 2009)—said that, in 2013, he was in a meeting where a drug trafficker was present. Carlos Zelaya clarified that this meeting was not a meeting known or ordered by his brother or by President Castro, but rather it was a personal meeting. The congressperson announced that he would resign from his political post to be investigated so that he could clarify that there is no connection between criminal groups linked to drug trafficking and Castro’s left-wing political party Liberty and Refoundation (Libre).
“I am going to present my resignation to the National Congress as congressman and as secretary of the Congress to strip myself of any kind of shielding I may have and to be investigated,” said Congressperson Zelaya. He stated that he would have no objection to appearing before the U.S. justice system to prove his innocence if the U.S. government so requires.
from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service
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