Alida Juliani
Madrid (EFE).- The new system for electing Supreme Court magistrates is an opportunity to put an end to corruption in Justice and drug trafficking in Honduras, with a new restructuring of the legal system that supports this fight, according to what he said This Friday in Madrid the president of the National Congress of the Central American country, Luis Redondo.
The fight against these two endemic evils in Honduras from the National Congress was one of the main issues that Redondo addressed today at the EFE Tribune held at the Casa de América, on the occasion of his presence in the Spanish capital accompanying the Honduran president, Xiomara Castro, on his official trip to Spain.
Consensus of various political forces
The election on February 17 of the 15 justices that make up the Honduran Supreme Court through a consensus of various political forces has meant a break with the traditional two-party system and, according to the president of the Honduran Parliament, also sets an “important precedent.” when the judges have the vote of various political forces, which have had to negotiate to reach a consensus.
This avoids, in Redondo’s opinion, “painful” situations that the country has experienced in the past, with “agreements” that have reached the courts of Justice of the United States in cases related to drug trafficking financing in order to influence decisions both of the National Congress and in the Honduran courts.
“And in this case there is also a history of buying votes for deputies who could make a decision on State issues. That has not happened now,” Redondo remarked.
Now -he explained- “there is no money involved. Here there is no financing of any criminal, political, or economic structure, but rather the ability to reach consensus when we achieved 117 votes (of the 128 that make up the Legislative power), something that had not happened to be able to elect a Court Supreme Court of Justice.”
Eight magistrates out of fifteen
Redondo also highlighted the fact that, for the first time in 200 years, the Honduran Supreme Court has 8 women among its 15 members, “which says a lot about the political will of a country that also has the first female president of its history”.
According to the Honduran politician, the new system for electing magistrates also represents the opportunity to carry out a new restructuring of the country’s legal system, in matters such as the receipt and laundering of assets, corruption, impunity, in the administration of Justice, and in the anti-corruption circuits that there are judges, among other things.
“So they are very good opportunities, as well as reaching internal consensus, they will require our complementary support through the formulation of new laws,” he pointed out.
Among the actions taken by the Honduran National Congress since Castro’s arrival in the country’s presidency, Redondo recalled the repeal of what is known as the Law of Secrets “in which various officials took refuge before to hide documentation of acts of corruption.”
It also placed as another precedent in Honduras the agenda known as the “Bicentennial Agreement”, created by Castro before he came to power, in which the decrees that in the last ten years had to be repealed or reformed were compiled, such as the so-called Penal Code of Impunity.
Redondo defends the changes in the Honduran Constitution to “restore its value”
Redondo also defended the revision and changes in some aspects of the Constitution “to restore its value” following the dictates of the citizens who voted for them: “our only pressure is that of the people,” he said, referring to alleged pressures received with the aim of limit Parliament’s ability to act.
There are those who tell us that we are going very fast in our reforms, but we consider that we are going slowly because we have been seeing injustices and abuses for twelve years and we believe that three years will be insufficient to restore the value that Congress gives to laws ”, he remarked.
As an example of Honduras’ political past marked by corruption and drug trafficking, Redondo recalled the situation of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and his brother Tony Hernández, prosecuted in the United States for drug trafficking.
“It will be heard in a trial this year that there was financing for more than a million dollars to even elect the board of the National Congress. We cannot ignore that the country’s institutionality was used to take tons of cocaine to other latitudes”, he pointed out.
And -he added- “we cannot ignore that this institutionality still has a certain location that we are subtly dismantling at this time and we are going to totally dismantle.”
