TEGUCIGALPA – The head of an anti-corruption organization on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Honduran President Xiomara Castro after a video was released in which her sister-in-law was accused of receiving drug money.
“This request is based on serious allegations of drug trafficking that have been brought against your family, who have been appointed to work in the State,” said Gabriela Castellanos, director of the non-governmental organization National Anti-Corruption Council, in a public letter to Castro.
The request comes after a difficult week for Castro, who won the presidency on an anti-corruption campaign.
A day before the letter was sent, a video recorded in 2013 was released that allegedly shows drug traffickers now in prison in the United States offering more than $525,000 to the president’s brother-in-law and congressional leader, Carlos Zelaya.
In this video published in an investigation by journalists at InsightCrime, Zelaya said “half of it will go to the commander,” referring to his brother, former president Manuel Zelaya, Castro’s husband and the main adviser who was overthrown in the 2009 coup. .
Castro’s brother-in-law, Zelaya, admitted a few days earlier that he had met with the leader of the drug trafficking organization “Los Cachiros,” who offered to support the party’s campaign that year; 2013 was the same year Castro had his first failed presidency.
But Zelaya told the press that he did not know that the people who came to the meeting were related to the drug trade.
Castro’s brother-in-law, Carlos Zelaya, was among several family members who resigned from government positions after he admitted meeting with a drug-trafficking group in 2013. Zelaya claimed he did not know the people he met were drug dealers. and refused to take the money on time.
“I fell into a trap, I am responsible for my actions,” Zelaya told the press.
Zelaya and his son, the former defense minister, both resigned from their positions.
Shortly before Zelaya’s revelations, Castro had overturned a long-standing extradition treaty between Honduras and the United States, which analysts and Hondurans said was unconscionable.
Under the agreement, dozens of Hondurans accused of drug trafficking were extradited to face justice in the US, including the country’s former president who was recently sentenced to 45 years in prison by a New York court.
Zelaya’s video was met with anger and frustration by many Hondurans, who had hoped when they elected Castro in 2021 that he would be a different president from the corrupt leader who has long ruled the Central American country.
But his popularity has slowly faded in recent years as gang violence, the economy and high unemployment continue to plague Honduras and many feel they have not seen the promised change.
After a video of Zelaya’s meeting with a narcotics group was broadcast, Castro claimed in a statement on radio and television that “dark forces” in Honduras and abroad were working to stage a coup against him.
“The plan to destroy the socialist and democratic government and the upcoming elections is underway,” he said. He gave few more details about the allegations.
Analyst and former presidential candidate Olban Valladares described his claims about plans to oust him as “absurd”, adding that Castro “insisted on using outdated rhetoric.”
