Honduras’s National Congress ousted the country’s attorney general Johel Zelaya and accepted the resignation of the Supreme Court president Rebeca Ráquel Obando in a single parliamentary session Wednesday night, a rapid political shake‑up that the opposition decried as a bid to concentrate power and revive the era of the “narco‑dictatorship” led by former president Juan Orlando Hernández.

Right‑wing lawyer Pablo Emilio Reyes replaced Zelaya, who had been suspended from his post last Monday to face an impeachment trial by Congress. The legislature, dominated by right‑wing forces, removed him from his duties in less than 48 hours.

Simultaneously, an impeachment trial was also being prepared for Supreme Court President Ráquel Obando that evening. However, while the relevant motion was being read, Congress President Tomás Zambrano received a phone call informing him that the head of the Judiciary would be submitting her resignation.

Legislators quickly accepted her resignation and appointed Justice Wagner Vallecillo Paredes as interim court president.

The opposition Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre) accused the ruling Liberal Party of orchestrating the moves to consolidate control over the judiciary and public prosecution. Party leaders likened the situation to the administration of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president who led Honduras from 2014 to 2022 and was later convicted on drug trafficking charges in the United States.

Hernández received a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year, a decision that drew sharp criticism from anti‑corruption advocates.

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