Thousands rally in support of embattled Honduras president / Photo: © AFP
Thousands rally in support of embattled Honduras president
Thousands of Hondurans took to the streets Saturday to show their support for embattled President Xiomara Castro, after a video emerged allegedly showing her brother-in-law meeting drug traffickers.
"Xiomara is not alone!" supporters chanted in front of the presidential palace.
The video, which appeared to reveal brother-in-law Carlos Zelaya seeking funding from the traffickers for Castro's 2013 campaign, came to light days after Castro declared the end of an extradition treaty with the United States.
Making the surprise announcement on August 28, Castro said she feared the agreement would be used to stage a "coup."
She repeated those claims in an address to supporters, who travelled to the capital from across the country by bus.
Flanked by her husband Manuel Zelaya and cabinet members, Castro declared: "I will not allow them to stage a new coup."
Zelaya, a former president, was overthrown in 2009 in a military coup supported by business elites and the political right.
The opposition has accused Castro of ending the extradition treaty and inventing conspiracies to protect members of her government and family.
Carlos Zelaya resigned as a lawmaker after the video emerged. Shortly afterwards, Castro's nephew Jose Manuel Zelaya quit as defense minister.
Last week, thousands of people attended a torch-lit rally in Tegucigalpa against the scrapping of the extradition treaty, under which 50 Hondurans accused of drug trafficking have been sent to the United States to face trial over the past decade.
They include former president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was sentenced in June in New York to 45 years in prison.
(W.Budayev--DTZ)
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