Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tegucigalpa (Agenzia Fides) - "The Bishops' Conference, representing the Catholic pilgrim people in Honduras, joins all those who fight for a better country and proclaims that there can be no peace without social justice, brotherhood without reconciliation, solidarity without compassion with the poor, social harmony without removing impunity permanently, nor progress without eliminating corruption that causes so much harm to all": this is what the Bishops' document published on July 2 (see Fides 03/07/2015) said and shortly after a huge corruption scandal came to light.
Yesterday, July 5, the main agencies informed that the vice president of Congress, Lena Gutiérrez, is under house arrest along with her father and two brothers, on charges of corruption and fraud against the state. It appears that Gutiérrez, owner of a pharmaceutical company, sold drugs at higher prices to the ministry of health.
The people took to the streets in Tegucigalpa to demand the resignation of the government and of President Juan Orlando Hernández. The opposition calls for an independent investigation into the scandal of corruption involving officials of the Institute for Social Security, but the President has denied being personally involved in the affair. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 06/07/2015)
