Tegucigalpa (AFP) – Xiomara Castro, who will make history as Honduras' first female president when she takes office on January 27, pla

Incoming Honduran president wants UN help to battle corruption

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2021-12-06 21:30:09

Tegucigalpa (AFP) – Xiomara Castro, who will make history as Honduras' first female president when she takes office on January 27, plans to ask the UN for help in fighting the corruption plaguing the Central American nation, and will urge Congress to repeal so-called "impunity" laws.

The 62-year-old Castro, who heads the leftist LIBRE party, told AFP in an interview she will work to rescind laws that "have covered up all the corruption" of recent years -- a clear allusion to the government of her predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Some 60 percent of the country's 10 million inhabitants live in poverty, and thousands, since 2018, have headed north in hopes of finding work in the United States.

"Our commitment is to guarantee that in Honduras, in their country, people have the conditions for a dignified life: free, universal education for all children and young people, and free universal healthcare," she said, without elaborating.

In 2016, after President Hernandez acknowledged his election campaign was partly funded with public moneys, the Organization of American States (OAS) sent an anti-corruption mission to Honduras, but it left in 2020 after a disagreement over renewing its mandate.