Honduras Foreign Minister Resigns Over Police Murder Scandal

Honduran Foreign Minister Arturo Corrales resigned on Friday after being mired in a scandal in which a cabal of corrupt top police officers reportedly ordered hits on anti-crime officials.

The office of President Juan Orlando Hernandez said the head of state "has today (Friday) accepted the resignation of the secretary for foreign affairs and international cooperation, Arturo Corrales."

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Corrales was Orlando's security minister during an alleged cover-up of the police involvement, which came to light through recent reporting by the Honduran newspaper El Heraldo.

The daily cited a security ministry document revealing that senior police officers ordered the assassination of Honduras' top anti-drugs official, Aristides Gonzalez, in December 2009.

It also said the group of police ordered hits on a state prosecutor, Orlando Chavez, in April 2013, and on a former security ministry consultant, Alfredo Landaverde, in December 2014.

Authorities believe more than one in 10 of the officers is corrupt and must be booted from the police force.