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About 30 civic and religious organizations in Honduras have called for the immediate resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernández because of his close ties to the drug traffickers who have sown violence in the Central American country.
“Never before has change been as urgent as it is today,” the group said in a statement released on April 6.
They link the 52-year-old president to a “criminal, corrupt and treacherous family” which has imposed itself in Honduras through an “unconstitutional re-election”.
The group – which includes Caritas Honduras, the National Conference of Religious and a Jesuit spirituality center – condemns the current administration for committing “electoral fraud” and carrying out deadly “repression”.
President Hernández was elected in 2014 to lead the republic of some 8.7 million people. He was then re-elected in 2017.
The organizations say his “immediate departure” is the first of their “unconditional” demands.
They also insist that other state officials resign as well, such as the general staff, the president of the National Congress and the president of the Supreme Court.
From the rule of law to the “narco-state”
Honduras experienced a coup less than 15 years ago and challenges against the current government are recurring. But this new declaration by civil and religious organizations is particularly significant because of the broad coalition it represents.
In addition to Church-related groups, the signatories also include lay movements. Among them is an indigenous peoples’ rights group (COPINH), a committee of families of the missing and other groups of citizens.
This convergence of opposition associations follows the sentencing of President Hernández’s brother to life in prison in the United States.
A New York court found “Tony” Hernández guilty of drug trafficking, saying he had benefited from the protection of his brother, the president.
According to the prosecution and witnesses, the head of state himself benefited from bribes paid by drug traffickers.
Thus, in their “Patriotic Appeal for the transition”, the associations denounce the “destruction of the rule of law” for the benefit of a “narco-state”.
In addition to the resignation of the current leadership team, they call for the formation of a government “of transition and national unity” which would represent “all the democratic forces engaged for the well-being of the country”.
Call for a renewal of the political class
“We will not have a new democracy in Honduras without new politicians,” Caritas Honduras said in an independent statement at the end of March.
Cardinal Óscar RodrÃguez Maradiaga de Tegucigalpa reiterated this sentiment during the Easter Sunday Mass.
“It is not possible for us to build a better Honduras with the vices of the past,” said the 78-year-old Salesian cardinal, who is one of Pope Francis’ main advisers and allies.
Honduras has long been plagued by violence, not least due to gangs involved in trafficking drugs to the northern United States.
The country’s two main cities – San Pedro Sula and its capital, Tegucigalpa – are considered among the most violent in the world.
The next presidential elections are scheduled for the end of November and Mr Hernández is not expected to stand for re-election, having already served two terms.
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