Honduras’ Minister of Defense and his father, a deputy, who are the nephew and brother-in-law of President Xiomara Castro, resigned on Saturday amid a scandal over alleged links to drug trafficking, three days after the leftist leader canceled the extradition treaty with the United States.
The Secretary of Congress, Carlos Zelaya, who is the brother of former President Manuel Zelaya (the husband of Castro who was overthrown in a 2009 coup), announced his resignation to face an investigation into links with drug traffickers.
“I will submit my resignation to the National Congress as a deputy and as Secretary of Congress to divest myself of any type of shield I may have and to be investigated,” he told journalists. Shortly after, his son, José Manuel Zelaya, resigned from his position as Minister of Defense.
“So that there can be a free investigation, I have submitted my resignation as Minister of Defense to the President,” the high-ranking official wrote on the social network X, highlighting his father’s “integrity and honor.”
After giving statements to the prosecutor’s office, Carlos Zelaya said he had “fallen into a trap,” acknowledging that he participated in a 2013 meeting where a well-known Honduran drug trafficker was present and “a contribution to the campaign” of the ruling Libertad y Refundación (Libre) party was offered.
“That meeting never had the endorsement of President Zelaya, it never had either the endorsement or the accompaniment, much less knowledge of that meeting, nor did President Castro. It was a unilateral meeting on my part,” he asserted outside the Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation in Comayagüela, a city adjacent to Tegucigalpa.
The president has not commented on the resignations of her brother-in-law and nephew. However, former President Zelaya announced on X that he had called an “emergency session” of the Libre party leadership, which he heads, for this Sunday.
Treaty Canceled
The deputy’s statement to the prosecutor’s office and the press comes three days after Castro announced the cancellation of the extradition treaty with the United States, which had allowed the imprisonment and sending to that country of 50 Hondurans linked to drug trafficking, including powerful politicians.
The following day, she stated that she did so to prevent the United States from using it against military personnel loyal to her and to prevent a coup attempt. “A plan is being forged against my government,” the leader said on Thursday, implicitly referring to the United States.
The denunciation of the treaty and the two resignations seek to “protect some people close to the government and to be in line with geopolitics against the United States,” analyst Jorge Yllesca said on Saturday.
The cancellation of the treaty with Washington induces the thought that there are Honduran government officials “linked” to drugs, sociologist Pablo Carías had warned on Friday.
Castro made her decision in response to the “interference” of the United States Ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Laura Dogu, who criticized a meeting between Minister Zelaya and the head of the Armed Forces, General Roosevelt Hernández, with Venezuela’s Defense Minister, General Vladimir Padrino López.
“Sitting next to a drug trafficker in Venezuela,” Dogu criticized.
Mentioned in New York Trial
Carlos Zelaya was mentioned last March in the trial in which former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was sentenced in New York to 45 years for drug trafficking.
“If tomorrow the United States government believes it has enough data or evidence to bring me to trial, I can present myself to American justice tomorrow,” added Deputy Zelaya.
Honduras’ Attorney General, Johel Zelaya, who took office last November, sent a team to listen to the hearings in the trial against Hernández in New York and investigate the Hondurans who were mentioned.
“We will continue with our investigations, we will not rest until the truth prevails in Honduras and justice is given to the Honduran people. Whoever it may be!” the prosecutor assured after Deputy Zelaya’s statement.
Last August, the official announced that he would call to testify about 36 people who were mentioned in the process, one of them being Carlos Zelaya.
