No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeCrimeCorruptionHonduras foreign minister resigns over police murder scandal

Honduras foreign minister resigns over police murder scandal

 TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran Foreign Minister Arturo Corrales resigned on Friday after being mired in a scandal in which a cabal of corrupt top police officers reportedly ordered hits on anti-crime officials.

The office of President Juan Orlando Hernández said the head of state “has today (Friday) accepted the resignation of the secretary for foreign affairs and international cooperation, Arturo Corrales.”

Corrales was Orlando’s security minister during an alleged cover-up of the police involvement, which came to light through recent reporting by the Honduran newspaper El Heraldo.

The daily cited a security ministry document revealing that senior police officers ordered the assassination of Honduras’ top anti-drug official, Arístides González, in December 2009.

It also said the group of police ordered hits on a state prosecutor, Orlando Chávez, in April 2013, and on a former security ministry consultant, Alfredo Landaverde, in December 2014.

The hierarchy of the security ministry in place between 2009 and 2014 covered up the information, the newspaper said.

Corrales was security minister for one year, from January 2014 until January 2015, when he was made foreign minister.

Honduras’ public ministry, which handles state prosecutions, opened an investigation last week after a raid on the police headquarters turned up evidence regarding González’s murder.

The president has asked Congress to approve an emergency decree aimed at accelerating a clean-up of the 12,000-strong police force that has been dragging on for four years now.

That process started in early 2011 when it was discovered that it was riddled with officers working for narcotics cartels, hitmen and other criminals.

Authorities believe more than one in 10 of the officers is dirty and must be booted from the police force.

Trending Now

A Costa Rica Expat and the Devil on His Shoulder

Everyone has a dark side—that little devil in your conscience that says, go ahead and do it! even though you know it’s wrong. It...

Judicial Corruption Exposed in Costa Rica’s Latest Drug Bust

Costa Rican authorities took down a cocaine smuggling operation Tuesday that moved drugs from South America to the United States, with a judicial worker...

Costa Rica Launches Traceability System to Tackle Illegal Logging

Costa Rica is advancing with the creation of a National Forest Traceability System, a key tool to guarantee the legality and sustainability of timber...

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...

UN Denounces Guatemala Over ‘Inhuman’ Indigenous Evictions

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, called on the Guatemalan government on Friday to halt the “inhuman”...

Chiquita Executives Convicted in Colombia for Financing Death Squads

Colombian justice on Wednesday sentenced seven former executives of the multinational banana company Chiquita Brands to more than 11 years in prison and a...
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