Dozens of civil organizations call for the resignation of the president of Honduras
Dozens of civil organizations call for the resignation of Juan Orlando Hernández and government officials
Reuters photo
AFP: Dozens of civil organizations call
TEGUCIGALPA. Dozens of civil society organizations in Honduras demanded, in a statement, the “immediate departure” of President Juan Orlando Hernández and the main government authorities for having turned the country into a “narco-state.”
“Filled with indignation,” the leaders of the groups agreed in a statement “to unconditionally demand (…) the immediate departure of President Juan Orlando Hernández from the government (and) the replacement of the military high command” that supports him.
Thank you for watching
➡️ Stay informed on our Google News channel
They also called for the departure of the “attorney general, the president of Congress, president of the Supreme Court of Justice and the attorney general of the Republic” and called for the convocation of a transitional government to carry out the general elections on November 28.
“We are witnesses to the destruction of the rule of law and the construction of a party dictatorship that has become a narco-state with which we are exhibited throughout the world,” the organizations said in the document.
The declaration named “Patriotic Call to Transition” is signed by 36 organizations, including Caritas of the Catholic Church, Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (Cofadeh), Unitary Confederation of Honduran Workers (Cuth) and Convergence against Continuism, an alliance of non-governmental and political organizations.
Last week, a federal court in the United States sentenced ex-congressman Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, brother of the Honduran president, to life imprisonment, holding him responsible for introducing 185,000 kilos of cocaine to the United States, with the help of Honduran state institutions.
The judge of the court, Kevin Castel, assured that the sentenced “acted as an intermediary in bribes to politicians, including his brother Juan Orlando Hernández and the (ruling) National Party.”
Days before, in that same court, the Honduran Geovanny Fuentes was found guilty of drug trafficking, whom US prosecutors consider a partner of the president, within a “narco-state.”
President Hernández rejected the charges and criticized the US courts for relying, according to him, on testimonies from former drug addicts persecuted by the Honduran government seeking revenge. His brother will appeal the sentence.
In the trial, supported by five former witnesses, federal prosecutors supported by the Drug Control Administration (DEA) argued that the current president even received money from the Mexican Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán, in exchange for aid for the transport of drugs through Honduras, bound for the United States.
