Honduras Cabinet Ministers Resign

President Porfirio Lobo stunned the press this past Saturday, when he read a statement to reporters that Security Minister, Óscar Álvarez, and Foreign Minister, Mario Canahuati had both resigned.

Security Minister Álvarez was outspoken against the growth of drug trafficking in the country, and was considered the most powerful cabinet member, as well as and the one closest to President Lobo.

Óscar Álvarez was disappointed that he was unable to reach his goal of cleaning up Honduras’ police force. He said that his work had been affecting powerful interest groups.

He said the President had offered him the positions of Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the Organization of American States, but he declined.

“I didn’t have the economic support,” Alvarez claimed. “I was affecting the big interests of drug trafficking, money laundering and kidnapping.”

The former Security Minister was upset that the country’s police had been infiltrated by drug traffickers for many years. He stated that he found at least 20 police chiefs who worked for international drug cartels, and called them “air traffic controllers” for the dozens of airplanes that have landed on remote strips in the last four years carrying Colombian cocaine destined for the United States.

Óscar Álvarez is emerging as a presidential candidate for the ruling National Party in 2013.


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