Gabriela Castellanos’s departure comes after her organisation printed a report accusing the federal government of nepotism.
A outstanding anti-corruption activist in Honduras has filed a grievance with the Honduran human rights commissioner, claiming that threats compelled her and her household to flee the nation on the weekend.
Gabriela Castellanos, director of the National Anti-Corruption Council (CNA) non-profit group, left Honduras on the advice of her safety crew after a “series of indications in recent days” signalled she was in peril, the council mentioned.
“We will continue to fight corruption,” Castellanos tweeted early on Monday. “This battle belongs to everyone; they will not stop us.”
She additionally spoke to Honduran media in regards to the threats, telling HCH Television on Monday that her departure got here “even sooner” than she anticipated. “I think the responsibility of our work is to act in a responsible manner, with truth, no matter the cost,” Castellanos mentioned.
Her accusations arrive within the wake of a CNA investigation, printed in May, that took purpose on the administration of Honduran President Xiomara Castro.
The report, titled “Concentration of Power”, traces proof of nepotism within the authorities.
The spouse of former President Manuel Zelaya, the left-wing Castro grew to become Honduras’s first feminine president after she led a broad coalition to victory within the 2021 presidential elections. Her win ended the 12-year rule of Honduras’s conservative National Party.
But the CNA alleges Castro has since used her place to pay attention energy inside her household, naming her husband and shut kin to key governmental positions.
“Governmental power has been acquired by a single family, when Mrs Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento was elected as president of the Republic of Honduras,” the report mentioned, utilizing the president’s full identify.
The report identified that Zelaya and the couple’s son, Jose Manuel Zelaya Castro, had been appointed as presidential advisers. Another considered one of their sons, Hector Manuel Zelaya Castro, was named a personal presidential secretary.
Other members of Castro’s prolonged household served in ambassadorships and ministerial posts. A headline within the newspaper El Heraldo in contrast the minister’s council to a “family tree”.
In her interview on Monday with HCH Television, Castellanos – whose actual location was not instantly clear after she left Honduras – mentioned her organisation continues to maneuver ahead with its work, regardless of the alleged threats.
“From where I am, I will continue working, and as civil society, we must say things whether they like it or not,” she instructed the information outlet.
Castellanos additionally mentioned she submitted the threats she acquired to Honduras’s National Commissioner for Human Rights (CONADEH), an unbiased physique created by congressional decree.
The company acknowledged its receipt of Castellanos’s grievance. “The complaint was admitted for processing, and procedures that are the responsibility of CONADEH will be carried out to ensure the life and integrity of the petitioner,” it mentioned in a assertion on Twitter.
In latest years, numerous Honduran activists have confronted threats and violence, notably these concerned in environmental advocacy.
Last week, water defender Oqueli Dominguez – who protested native iron oxide mines – was killed in a capturing at his dwelling in Tocoa.
Six months earlier, in January, his brother Aly Dominguez and fellow activist Jairo Bonilla had been shot to loss of life on the highway between La Concepcion and Guapinol. Mary Lawlor, a United Nations particular rapporteur on the scenario of human rights defenders, has known as for an unbiased investigation into their deaths.
The 2016 homicide of Indigenous rights chief Berta Caceres introduced world consideration to the threats activists obtain within the area. She had gained the Goldman Environmental Prize – a world honour – only one 12 months prior.
