HONDURAS: Buy a Bench in Parliament and Get Impunity for Free

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, Sep 27 1997 (IPS) - The biggest scandal in the upcoming elections in Honduras scheduled for November erupted here this week after a congressman offered to sell his seat to anyone who is “being persecuted” by justice.

At a press conference, Zelaya asked 80,000 dollars for his parlamentarian seat.

Rumors about the purchase of “winning” electoral nominations are frequently heard in this Central American country, but the public offer to sell his office by congressman Jorge Zelaya, of the opposition National Party, ignited the scandal.

“There are people who need immunity, people who are outside the country and want to return, people who will offer all kinds of money, so here it is,” said the congressman.

Immunity, considered to be the “apple of discord” of the current electoral process in Honduras, has been the principal obstacle facing the judicial system in corruption cases.

Among the twelve persons currently accused is former president, Rafael Callejas (1990-94).

The state prosecutor, Edmundo Orellana, says that in Honduras, immunity has become impunity, and has prevented several cases from being clarified, including the misuse of government funds and the sale of Honduran citizenship five years ago.

Zelaya said he was “fed up” with the politicians’ immunity games. It is common, he said, that Honduras’s two largest parties- the governing Liberal party and the National party- sell congress seats in exchange for immunity, “which is another way of saying impunity.”

“I offer my (immunity) publicly because I like to be proper and direct,” said Zelaya, the congressman who also works as a journalist in Radio America in Tegucigalpa.

“Of course, I could handle the sale of my congressional seat in a more discrete manner, as others do, and say that in the end I prefer to dedicate myself to journalism and not to political activity, or I could say that at the last moment they erased my name from the list of congress members,” he added.

Zelaya’s statments were “a joke in poor taste, because in my party, congress seats are not for sale,” Nora Melgar, candidate to the presidency for the National Party said.

The local press said that many of the people who head the lists of congressional candidates stand accused of committing acts of corruption during the Callejas government, considered to be one of the most corrupt administrations in Honduran history.

While four judicial processes against the former president and several members of his cabinet are currently pending, Callejas has not yet been tried since, the National party granted him immunity by including him in the list of candidates.

Callejas is accused of misappropriating 28 million dollars destined for fuel costs to pay personal bills pertaining to him and his family, as well as the sale of 18,000 Honduran passports to Asian citizens.

It is estimated that through the sale of passports, an act considered by the district attorney’s office and by President Carlos Reina as “the deal of the century” and the country’s “worst embarrassment,” Callejas and his cronies amassed between 400 and 500 million dollars.

Callejas and the leadership of the National Party, the second- most important party in the country, consider the accusations to be “political persecution,” an argument they used when they refused to appear before the governmental Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), headed by physician Ramon Custodio.

Callejas made a surprise visit to Custodio this week because he is feeling cornered, according to sources close to the former president.

Five years ago, Callejas said that Custodio, who is currently considered to be one of the most trustworthy people in Honduras, was his main enemy.

Liberal party candidate, Carlos Flores, who presides over Congress, promised to back legislation on the issue of immunity.

“Many political criminals have hidden” under the cloak of parliamentary immunity. “We are going to review this system because these problems are calling into question the country’s political credibility,” he said.

A year ago, several congress members presented a motion to remove immunity in cases of politicians accused of corruption, but the congressional committee responsible for this issue has yet to make any decisions regarding the issue.

The person who purchases Zelaya’s congressional seat would have a series of benefits, including the right to the use of a diplomatic passport for him or herself and family, as well as custom exemptions.