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 US Ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Laura Dogu, made statements to Honduran media questioning the meeting of several Honduran officials with Venezuelan officials.
In light of this decision, the right-wing opposition in Honduras has accused the executive branch of making the decision due to alleged relations between some government officials and criminal groups. Such rumors increased after Congressman Carlos Zelaya – brother of former President Manuel Zelaya (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 the current President of the country, Xiomara Castro, but rather that it was a personal meeting. For the time being, the congressman announced that he would resign from his political post to be investigated so that he can clarify that there is no connection between criminal groups linked to drug trafficking and the political party Liberty and Refoundation (Libre), which is currently in power.
“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 Congressman Zelaya. He also stated that he would have no objection to appear before the US justice system to prove his innocence if the US government so requires.
Carlos Zelaya’s son is José Manuel Zelaya, who was until recently, Secretary of Defense. The opposition quickly tried to link the father’s situation with the son. But José Manuel Zelaya has declared that he will also resign from his post as Secretary of Defense to submit to a thorough investigation by the Honduran justice system. “The mission of the Libre Party is above the exercise of a public office, for this reason, and to be investigated with complete freedom, I have submitted my resignation as Minister of Defense to President Xiomara Castro, highlighting the integrity and honor of my Father Carlos Zelaya who has voluntarily appeared before the MP to testify about a video in meeting 11 years ago (2013), with people who were accused of drug trafficking. We will continue fighting for the truth,” said the former Secretary of Defense. Given this resignation, Xiomara Castro appointed Rixi Moncada Godoy as the new Secretary of Defense. Moncada is, for now, the presidential pre-candidate of the Libre Party for the 2025 elections.
Political persecution as punishment for defending Honduras’ sovereignty
In a statement released after an extraordinary meeting of the National Coordination of the Libre Party, they declared that this new attack is part of a plot to carry out a new coup d’état in Honduras because the Castro government has not submitted to Washington’s directives and because it sovereignly “dared” to terminate the extradition agreement. In addition, it was warned that one objective of the conspirators is to prevent the holding of free and democratic elections in 2025. Therefore, the party has condemned and rejected the “interfering actions of the Embassy of the United States of America by attacking the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces and the former Minister of Defense, violating international principles and conventions, trying to provoke the destabilization of the armed forces”.
In addition, the Libre Party decided to give a vote of confidence to the public officials who chose to resign from their positions so that they could be investigated transparently: “To recognize the voluntary appearance before the Public Prosecutor’s Office of comrade congressman Carlos Armando Zelaya, and his resignation from his position in the National Congress, as well as the resignation of comrade Rafael Sarmiento, who have made themselves immediately available to the national and international investigative bodies”.
Finally, President Castro’s political party decided to call for a mass mobilization on September 15 to support the government of Xiomara Castro and reject foreign interference that seeks to destabilize the democratically elected government. “The Libre Party was born in the streets, we will remain active and mobilized throughout the country to continue fighting the oligarchy and the neoliberal, opprobrious, and corrupt system. For a new triumph in the primary and general elections of 2025. WE RESIST AND WE WILL WIN!” concludes the communiqué.
Many have also pointed out the hypocrisy of accusing the left and progressive movement of links with narcotraffickers when politicians from the far-right National Party, including former president Juan Orlando Hernández, have been convicted and extradited over charges of exporting hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States.
