Honduras anti-corruption activist and executive director of the Consejo Nacional Anticorrupcion (CNA) Gabriela Castellanos speaks during an event in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in this handout picture released to Reuters on June 19, 2023. Courtesy Consejo Nacional Anticorrupcion (CNA)/Handout via REUTERS
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) -One of Honduras' leading anti-corruption advocates on Monday said she had left the Central American nation because of threats, weeks after accusing President Xiomara Castro's government of nepotism.
Gabriela Castellanos, executive director of the National Anti-Corruption Council (CNA), which has investigated public corruption in Honduras for nearly a decade, left the country on Sunday with her family and traveled to the United States, she told local media.
"Given the situation of insecurity facing my family and myself, we decided to leave the country and (hope) these events that have occurred in recent weeks can be investigated," Castellanos said on television channel 3.
Castellanos, who had been invited to attend an event organized by the Organization of American States (OAS), did not specify where the threats were coming from or what investigation they were related to, but said they began in the past three weeks.
On May 24, the CNA published the results of an investigation alleging that the Honduran government tapped Castro's relatives for positions in the presidency, the Cabinet, Congress and the Supreme Court.
Castro denied the claims the next day and described them as false, accusing the CNA of keeping silent during corruption in the government of former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges last year.
Gerardo Torres, Castro's deputy foreign minister, said the threats against Castellanos were not coming from within the government.
"I hope we can figure out where they're coming from and that Ms. Castellanos can come back to the country," he said in a press conference.
(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
