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HONDURAS-POLITICS-PROTEST
Thousands protest against Honduras president
TEGUCIGALPA, April 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of people marched through
the streets of the Honduran capital Friday night demanding the resignation of
President Juan Orlando Hernandez and an investigation of him and his family.
The protestors, from the so-called Movimiento Indignados (Indignant
Movement) and numbering around 5,000 according to reporters, shouted “get out
J.O.H.,” as they marched to the public prosecutor’s office.
“We demand the immediate removal of Juan Orlando Hernandez from the post he
is currently usurping, as well as an urgent investigation of him and his
family circle and political associates,” the movement said in a statement.
It alleged Hernandez has links to people accused of corruption and drug
trafficking, including his brother Antonio Hernandez, a former lawmaker who
was arrested in Miami, Florida on November 23 and is accused of “large-scale
drug trafficking.”
President Hernandez has said he was shocked by his brother’s arrest but
that nobody was above the law.
The opposition says Hernandez, a conservative backed by the United States,
was illegitimately re-elected in a November 2017 vote marred by delays and
alleged fraud.
The “indignados” have made a return to the streets after their 2015
demonstrations against Hernandez, who was accused of illegally using
government money for the 2013 presidential election that he won.
Hernandez admitted his conservative ruling National Party had accepted
$94,000 that had been misappropriated from social security funds but said the
funds had been used without his knowledge.
The opposition however charged that more than $300 million was skimmed from
the poverty-stricken country’s public health system.
Honduras is plagued by endemic corruption and gangs that control drug
trafficking and organized crime.
This phenomenon has caused a wave of illegal immigration to the United
States, notably by minors who fear being forced into gang enrollment.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1439 hrs