Hundreds march in Honduras to demand the resignation of President Xiomara Castro

(7 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tegucigalpa, Honduras - 06 September 2024
1. Various of hundreds of Honduran nationals marching to demand the resignation of President Xiomara Castro
2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Carla Reyes, homemaker:
"She (Xiomara Castro) and her family are a narco family. They were talking about Juan Orlando (Hernández) and there is a video where they are negotiating with the narcos and Juan Orlando was never caught doing business with the narcos."
3. Various of demonstrators marching and chanting holding Honduran flags
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Fredy Chávez, student:
"We are demanding the resignation of the president. As young people we are tired of all the avalanche of bad opportunities that are being given to us as young people."
5. Various of demonstrators marching and holding Honduran flags
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Juan Rodríguez, industrial engineer:
"He wants to turn Honduras into the next Venezuela, that is why we demand his resignation, so that this does not happen here."
7. Various of demonstrators marching ++NIGHT SHOTS++
8. Demonstrators holding a U.S. flag ++NIGHT SHOTS++
9. Various of demonstrators marching ++NIGHT SHOTS++

STORYLINE:
Hundreds of Honduran nationals marched in the capital Tegucigalpa on Friday evening to demand the resignation of President Xiomara Castro, after a video was released in which her brother-in-law allegedly received drug money.

"She and her family are a narco family. They were talking about Juan Orlando (Hernández) and there is a video where they are negotiating with the narcos and Juan Orlando was never caught doing business with the narcos," Carla Reyes, a homemaker who attended the demonstration, told the Associated Press.

On Wednesday, the head of the anti-corruption organization National Anti-Corruption Council demanded that Honduran President Xiomara Castro resign. The demand comes after a rocky week for Castro, who won the presidency on an anti-corruption campaign.

On Tuesday, a video recorded in 2013 was released purportedly showing drug traffickers currently imprisoned in the United States offering more than $525,000 to the president’s brother-in-law and congressional leader, Carlos Zelaya.

In this video published in an investigation by journalists at InsightCrime, Zelaya said "half of it will go to the commander," referring to his brother, former president Manuel Zelaya, Castro’s husband and main adviser who was overthrown in a 2009 coup d’état.

Castro’s brother-in-law Zelaya acknowledged days earlier that he had met with the leader of the drug trafficking organization "Los Cachiros," who offered to support his party’s campaign that year; 2013 was the same year Castro made her first unsuccessful run for president.

But Zelaya told the press he was unaware the people who attended the meeting were related to drug trafficking.

Zelaya and his son, the former minister of defense, both resigned from their positions.

Shortly before Zelaya’s revelation, Castro had knocked down a longstanding extradition treaty between Honduras and the United States, which analysts and disillusioned Hondurans said was not a coincidence.

The video of Zelaya was met by anger and frustration by many Hondurans, who harbored hope when they elected Castro in 2021 that she would be a different president than the corrupt leaders that have long ruled the Central American nation.

But her popularity has slowly faded in recent years as gang violence rages, the economy and high unemployment continue to plague Hondurans and many feel they haven’t seen the change promised them.





Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...