Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez responds to calls for resignation with calls for dialogue.
| Autor | Rodriguez, George |
As the regional popular saying goes, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez apparently "heard the footsteps of a big animal" (oyo pasos de animal grande) coming from neighboring Guatemala.
There, amid a corruption scandal that shook the government, massive, relentless popular pressure forced Guatemalan Vice President Roxana Baldetti to step down--and thousands have also demanded the resignation of President Otto Perez Molina (NotiCen, April 23, 2015, and July 2, 2015).
Just as in the Guatemalan case and 22 years after Guatemala's then President Jorge Serrano (1991-1993), also involved in corruption, was pressured by the people to resign, going into exile in Panama after a brief stay in El Salvador, where he was not welcomed, angry Hondurans are saying, by the thousands, they've had it with unpunished government corruption and are demanding Hernandez's--and other high officials'--resignation.
Widespread wrongdoing in IHSS
The reason is major-scale wrongdoing in the Instituto Hondureno de Seguridad Social (IHSS)--which opposition sectors describe as "pillage," "mega-fraud," "embezzlement," and plain "theft" of public funds--involving ruling Partido Nacional (PN) leaders and top government officials.
Forced by massive social unrest, JOH--as Hernandez is locally known--hurriedly decided last week to take the initiative and call for a broadly inclusive national dialogue on a system he proposed against corruption and impunity.
Praised by the local academia, the foreign diplomatic corps--specifically the US Embassy--and religious sectors, the measure does not seem to have satisfied the angry thousands, who are going ahead with the massive peaceful demonstrations and their demands.
On March 6, 2014, almost three months after it began an inquiry ordered by then President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo (2010-2014)--also a "cachureco," as PN members are known--the Comision Interventora del IHSS produced its report, coinciding with the institute's 55th anniversary. In the 14-chapter, 151page document covering the 2010-2013 period, the work group presented the critical general situation reflected in a financial deficit close to 6.4 billion lempiras (some US$290 million).
However lengthy, the report did not detail the corruption voiced by the country's civil society, opposition forces, and the media, pointing out instead general mismanagement of funds, such as excess spending.
Local press reports as well as accusations made by civil society and political...
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