Caribbean & Central America - September 2023

In July a delegation of experts appointed by the United Nations (UN) arrived in Tegucigalpa to begin analysing the creation of a new international commission against corruption and impunity in Honduras (CICIH). CICIH’s establishment was a major electoral pledge by President Xiomara Castro who took office in January 2022. While in December 2022 the Castro government and UN inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding CICIH’s installation, frustration persists regarding the lack of progress on the issue. Meanwhile a report released in May by anti-corruption NGO Consejo Nacional Anticorrupción (CNA), accusing the government of nepotism, and the brief departure of CNA’s director Gabriela Castellanos who cited threats, have provided an uncomfortable backdrop for discussions regarding the CICIH’s establishment.

The deployment of UN experts is the first phase of the MoU inked in December 2022. The panel comprises Amerigo Incalcaterra, an Italian legal expert with extensive experience working with the UN in Latin America; Ana Gabriela Contreras, a Guatemalan jurist, a former consultant for the now-defunct UN-backed anti-impunity commission in Guatemala (Cicig), and Pedro Biscay, an Argentine jurist with over 20 years’ experience investigating financial and economic crimes. It is tasked with analysing the strengths and weaknesses of Honduran institutions like the attorney general’s office and judiciary, and with identifying necessary constitutional, legal and administrative reforms.

• MoU

The MoU inked by the Honduran government and United Nations in December 2022 also stipulates that parallel to the first phase, the two sides will negotiate the terms of the bilateral agreement to establish the mechanism. The second phase begins with the ratification of this bilateral agreement, with the two sides then to define the terms of reference to select CICIH’s leadership, as well as issues like staffing, contracts, and finance.

Having arrived in Honduras on 9 July to much media attention, the panel left on 23 July without providing any further declarations. While Foreign Minister Enrique Reina has since revealed plans for the panel to return from 13-19 August to continue its work, Transparency Minister Edmundo Orellana was compelled to reject media speculation regarding “negative, hostile or adverse circumstances” regarding the panel’s departure.

This speculation follows tensions which had emerged between the Castro government and foreign community over Castellanos, who briefly left the country in June following death threats, having accused government members of nepotism. On returning to Honduras, on 20 July Castellanos gave a press conference attended by the UN representative in the country, Alice Shackelford, whose presence led Castro to tweet that the “politicisation of the United Nations in Honduras [is] unacceptable!”. This prompted Shackelford to respond with a further tweet lamenting any discomfort her presence may have caused, underlining that her role as UN representative is based on “good faith and… principles of objectivity, neutrality and independence.”

Nepotism allegations

On 24 May CNA released a report accusing Castro’s government of nepotism and related practices, and drew comparisons with her disgraced predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernández (Partido Nacional, 2014-2022), who was extradited to the US in April 2022 to face drug- and weapons-related charges [SSR-22-05].

The CNA report highlights that multiple members of Castro’s close family hold key government posts. Examples include her husband, ejected former president Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009), and son José Manuel Zelaya Castro, both presidential advisors. It highlights that another son, Héctor Manuel Zelaya Castro is private secretary to the president, while a daughter, Xiomara Hortencia Zelaya Castro, is a national legislator, as is Castro’s brother-in-law Carlos Armando Zelaya Rosales, whose daughter, María Alejandra Zelaya Rosales, is director general of foreign policy within the foreign ministry. Castro responded to CNA’s report by defending those in her government, insisting that her administration and that of her predecessor were not comparable.