Honduras Denounces Attempted Coup in Barracks

Honduran FM Enrique Reina. Photo: X/ @canaltn8

August 29, 2024 Hour: 12:15 pm

Statements by the U.S. ambassador to Honduras fueled divisions in the Army.

On Thursday morning, Honduran Foreign Affairs Minister Enrique Reina warned of an attempt to sow division within the Armed Forces following comments made by the U.S. Ambassador, Laura Dogu.

Honduran intelligence detected a plan to execute a “barracks coup” involving certain factions seeking to remove Chief of Staff Gen. Roosevelt Hernandez. The operation might have involved some military personnel organizing to challenge Hernandez’s authority, whom Dogu had linked to an alleged “narcotrafficker.”

Amid these tensions, Honduran President Xiomara Castro has intensified her efforts to preserve the unity and stability of the Armed Forces. She faces the challenge of maintaining cohesion at a critical moment, as the campaign for the primary elections, scheduled for April 2025, approaches.

Ambassador Dogu’s comments have also sparked a debate over the U.S.-Honduras extradition treaty, which could be used as a political tool to influence this Central American country’s internal affairs.

Honduras promises to end extradition treaty with US after ambassador comments https://t.co/XxvSifb4ai via @YahooNews The US has no business accusing other countries of drug trafficking, look at all the drug trafficking that goes on by US drug manufacturers.
— What now? 😶 (@sggomg) August 29, 2024

Specifically, there is fear that the treaty could be invoked to bring Gen. Hernandez or former President Manuel Zelaya Rosales to trial in the United States in an attempt to weaken the Free Party, a leftist organization that brought Castro to the presidency in 2022 and is the favorite to win the next presidential elections on November 30, 2025.

Foreign interference from United States and its regional allies could be aimed at influencing the electoral process by using unfounded accusations to create uncertainty and undermine confidence in Honduran institutions.

“The U.S. interference and interventionism, as well as its intention to direct the politics of Honduras through its Embassy and other representatives, is intolerable,” President Castro wrote on social media.

“They attack, ignore and violate with impunity the principles and practices of international law, which promote respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of peoples, non-intervention and universal peace. Enough! Based on our Constitution and international treaties, I have ordered FM Reina to denounce the extradition treaty with the U.S.,” she added.