Honduras' president is asked to resign after corruption scandal she says is a plot to oust her

TEGUCIGALPA — The head of an anti-corruption organization on Wednesday demanded that Honduran President Xiomara Castro resign after a video was released in which her brother-in-law allegedly received drug money.

“This request is based on the serious accusations of drug trafficking that have been presented against your family, whom you have appointed to work in the State,” said Gabriela Castellanos, director of the non-governmental organization the National Anti-Corruption Council, in a public letter to Castro.

The demand comes after a rocky week for Castro, who won the presidency on an anti-corruption campaign.

The day before the letter was sent, 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.

Castro's brother-in-law Carlos Zelaya was among a few family members who resigned from their positions in government after he admitted to having met with a drug-trafficking group in 2013. Zelaya claimed he didn't know the people he met with were narcos and denied taking money at the time.

"I fell into a trap, I take responsibility for my actions," Zelaya told press.

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

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.

Under the treaty, dozens of Hondurans accused of drug trafficking were extradited to face justice in the U.S., including the country's ex-president who was recently sentenced to 45 years in prison by a New York court.

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.

After the video of Zelaya's meeting with the narco group was broadcast, Castro claimed in statements over radio and television that “dark forces” in Honduras and abroad were working to carry out a coup d’état against her.

“The plan to destroy my socialist and democratic government and the upcoming election is underway," she said. She offered few other details in her accusations.

Analyst and former presidential candidate Olban Valladares described her claims of a plot to oust her as “absurd," adding that Castro “insists on using rhetoric that has already been worn out."