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Honduras' President Xiomara Castro delivers a speech during a ceremony to commemorate the National Flag Day, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras September 1, 2024.
Honduras rocked by presidential drug scandal
Honduran President Xiomara Castro faced calls to resign on Wednesday after journalists released a video of her brother-in-law negotiating payoffs with convicted drug traffickers. The man in the video, Carlos Zelaya, denied he knew he was taking drug money, but he and his son both resigned from their government positions after the revelation. Carlos’ brother, Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, is Castro’s husband and was president himself before being overthrown in a coup in 2009.
Just before the video broke, Honduras withdrew from its extradition treaty with the United States — not a coincidence. Dozens of accused Honduran drug traffickers have been extradited to face trial and imprisonment in the US, including Castro’s immediate predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernández,whom she accused of running a “narco-dictatorship.” How the tables have turned!
Eurasia Group regional expert Risa Grais-Targow says there’s more to it than simple self-preservation. Castro’s Honduras has been moving further away from the US, for example, by dropping its recognition of Taiwan in favor of the People’s Republic of China, and immediately siding with Venezuelan strongman president Nicolás Maduro in the aftermath of that country’s deeply controversial election.
“All of this pushes Honduras further into that club of countries — Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia — that has a much more contentious relationship with the US than other Latin American countries,” Grais-Targow explained.
FILE PHOTO: Spain's Socialist leader and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, accompanied by his wife Begona Gomez, applauds as he addresses supporters during the general election, in Madrid, Spain, July 23, 2023.
Spain’s Sanchez surprises with a siesta
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez posted a letter on social media Wednesday announcing he would suspend all his public duties and take a few days to consider resigning. Earlier in the day, a judge opened an investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez, over corruption surrounding government tenders and subsidies. The court did not give specific details of its allegations.
In his letter, Sánchez accuses “ultraconservative” interests of pursuing a cynical smear campaign against his wife because Spanish voters rejected them at the ballot box last year. Gómez holds no official position and is not a politician, and Sánchez firmly denied there was any case for the court.
Nonetheless, he wrote that his love for her made him question whether it was all worth it. “I sincerely don’t know,” he wrote. “This attack is unprecedented, so serious and so vulgar that I must stop and reflect with my wife.”
Subordinate ministers and political allies are publicly backing Sánchez’s decision, but maybe not purely out of solidarity. The PM is a notorious risk-taker who managed to hold on to power against the odds last year by calling a snap election and then cobbling together a minority coalition. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s a crucial regional election on May 12 in wealthy, often separatist-leaning Catalonia.
A bit of sympathy for the PM’s wife certainly can’t hurt, can it?
Sánchez said he will announce his decision by Monday, April 29.
Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry speaks while addressing the nation, at an unidentified location on a date given as March 11, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video.
Haiti’s embattled prime minister resigns amid chaos
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced his resignation overnight amid mounting international pressure for him to step down. The move follows weeks of civil unrest and violence by rival gangs in the Caribbean country.
Henry said he would turn over power to a transitional council made up of political leaders, the private sector, civil society, and a religious representative. The handover marks the end of Henry’s unelected term as Haiti’s acting president, a post he has held since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021.
The precise membership of the transitional council has not been named, but the gangs that now control some 80% of Port-au-Prince, the capital, are now pushing to be included in the political solution. So is convicted drug trafficker Guy Philippe, who says he can bridge between the gangs and ordinary society.
The international community, however, is not eager to invite either to the table and is setting its hopes on a Kenyan-led intervention force to help the Haitian police win back control of the streets. Washington announced it would commit another $100 million to the force and $33 million in humanitarian aid, bringing total US pledges to $333 million.