No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeCrimeCorruptionHonduras gets new anti-corruption commission

Honduras gets new anti-corruption commission

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – The Organization of American States on Monday established an ambitious new corruption-fighting commission in Honduras aimed at replicating the success of a similar, U.N.-backed body in Guatemala that brought down that country’s government.

The Support Mission Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras, known by its Spanish initials MACCIH, will target graft and organized crime through a corps of judges, prosecutors and police officers.

Its task will be a big one. Honduras ranks 112th out of 168 countries on a global corruption index put out by Transparency International, a watchdog group.

MACCIH is led by a Peruvian lawyer, Juan Jiménez Mayor, who attended the inauguration ceremony with dozens of civil servants, leaders of unions and associations, and diplomats. He noted that the OAS considers corruption to be “a risk factor for democracy” and said Honduras was now on a “new path” by seeking to combat it.

Guatemala’s example was illustrative of the hopes borne by MACCIH. Last year, the president of that Central American nation was forced to stand down as a scandal over officials taking bribes to cut import duties for some companies engulfed his administration.

Guatemala’s new president, Jimmy Morales, is a former TV comedian with almost no political experience. But he rode a wave of popular disgust with corruption to take office.

Honduras protest | MACCIH
Orlando Sierra/AFP

In Honduras, mass demonstrations were held weekly to install a similar body, and MACCIH was agreed to under a convention signed a month ago in Washington by Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro.

Its text sets out four areas of action: preventing and fighting corruption, reforming the criminal justice system, political and electoral reform, and public security.

Although helping to create MACCIH, Hernández could end up ruing its existence.

The president has admitted his electoral campaign that brought him to power two years ago took $94,000 of some $330 million embezzled from the country’s social security agency. However, he maintains that he did not know the origin of the money at the time.

Trending Now

Costa Rican Lottery Official Investigated in Money Laundering Case

Another money laundering case has shaken Costa Rica. Following a series of raids that dismantled a laundering network operating through legal and illegal lottery...

Venezuelan Migrants Describe Torture After Deportation to El Salvador

“You’re going to rot in here. You’ll spend 300 years in prison.” That’s what Maikel Olivera says guards repeatedly told him during his four-month...

Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Drowning in Costa Rica Ruled Accidental

The death of American actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner has been confirmed as accidental drowning, according to Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ). Warner, 54, was...

Panama Farmer Receives Land Title After 60-Year Wait at Age 109

A 109-year-old Panamanian farmer has received the land title for the property where he lives and works—six decades after first requesting it from the...

Costa Rica Fails to Meet Human Rights Standards for Deportees

The Ombudsman's Office has confirmed that Costa Rica was unprepared to provide adequate care for deportees who have entered the country since February. This...

Costa Rica Celebrates 201st Annexation Anniversary With New Nicoya Park

Nearly 200 people joined the Municipality of Nicoya this Sunday to inaugurate a new park at the Annexation Monument, an initiative that blends recreation,...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica