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Honduras’s anti-government “Outraged” movement, which is protesting endemic corruption in the country, will march to the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa Friday before a scheduled meeting with U.S. Ambassador James Nealon.
Thousands of people have been taking to the streets with torches over the past eight weeks to demand the dismissal of current President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is embroiled in a major corruption scandal along with many other government officials.
Ariel Varela, one of the leaders of the protest movement, told El Heraldo that the massive protest will start at 5 p.m. from Avenue Morazan to Avenue La Paz, where the embassy is located.
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“Ambassador James Nealon will be receiving us, and will provide us with all the information about the US$2 million of financial support that his country gave to Honduras, especially what these resources will be allocated to,” she said.
Hernandez and his ruling National Party are accused of taking US$90 million of more than US$200 million embezzled from the public coffers of the country's Social Security Institute, known as IHSS, to fund their 2013 election campaign that saw him narrowly win amid widespread calls of electoral fraud. While Hernandez has admitted to accepting corrupt funds, he has denied personal responsibility.
His government is the second one since the U.S.-backed military coup in June 2010. The political turmoil and resistance that followed was met with increasing militarization in the name of improving security, a strategy that has been endorsed by the United States. The U.S. has also deployed 280 U.S. Marines to Central America, mostly to Honduras, while Obama’s US$1 billion security plan for Central America’s Northern Triangle remains pending. Human rights violations and criminalization of political opposition and social movements have dramatically spiked in the wake of the coup.
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