After 11 weeks of torchlit marches by protesters incensed by revelations of institutional corruption in Honduras, a dialogue process is tentatively underway. The protest movement, named after Spain’s indignados (outraged), is demanding the establishment of an anti-impunity commission along the lines of Guatemala’s Cicig, backed by the United Nations (UN), to root out this corruption, and is suspicious of a dialogue process proposed by President Juan Orlando Hernández on 23 June. Representatives of the indignados and civil society organisations did agree, however, to meet Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), who visited Honduras on 7 August to broker talks.
Nationwide protests began after massive corruption came to light at the state social security institute (IHSS) and elsewhere last May. President Hernández opposes the creation of Cicih (as it would be called in Honduras). Instead, he appeared on national television to announce that he was creating an integral Honduran system against impunity and corruption (SIHCIC). He called for civil society, congress, and the attorney general’s office to help shape SIHCIC and “join our fight for dignity, transparency and the equal application of justice”. Hernández failed to provide any concrete details of the composition or remit of SIHCIC but it did not placate the indignados who insist that only an impartial, international body can combat corruption effectively in Honduras.
On 3 August congress rejected by 66 votes to 56 a proposal sponsored by the ousted former president Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009), the leader of the left-wing Libertad y Refundación (Libre), to call a plebiscite on whether Hernández should invite the UN to establish Cicih. The president of congress, Mauricio Oliva, urged Libre to join the dialogue process instead. Oliva said the Cicih proposal was “weak, unsubstantial and very superficial”, which sums up how the indignados view the SIHCIC proposal.
Given the growing polarisation in Honduras, the OAS is keen to get involved, having been caught off guard by the institutional brinkmanship that resulted in a coup in 2009. Hernández received Almagro who, promising to “knock on all doors and enter those that are opened,” later met Zelaya and the indignados. Almagro, who was accompanied by veteran Chilean diplomat John Biehl del Río, designated by the OAS to facilitate the dialogue process, said the OAS would later form an agenda for talks with specific goals and a timeframe.
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