HomeNewsBriefFormer Honduran Security Min Alvarez Denies Link to Criminals
BRIEF

Former Honduran Security Min Alvarez Denies Link to Criminals

HONDURAS / 11 NOV 2011 BY RONAN GRAHAM EN

Former Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez, who left office abruptly in September, has denied allegations of corruption and accusations that elements in his office colluded with organized crime.

In a television appearance this week, Alvarez (pictured to the left) dismissed allegations made by the director of the National Autonomous University of Honduras, Julietta Castellanos, that his team "was in collusion with drug traffickers," the Honduran daily El Heraldo reports.

Alvarez's resignation was a surprise since he was viewed by some as one of President Porfirio Lobo's closest advisers.

News reports in September said that Alvarez was forced to quit because of tensions between his office and the leadership of the National Police. Alvarez, who claimed the Honduran police are thoroughly infiltrated by criminal groups, had made concerted efforts to purge the police of corrupt elements.

Speaking of his departure in his recent television appearance, Alvarez said he "could not say" if the threat of an uprising against the government by the former director of the National Police, Jose Luis Munoz Licona, and other senior officers, led President Lobo to force him from office.

"Some police officers told the President that my plans were to destroy the police. I just wanted a clean and pure police, based on the experience of Colombia," he said.

In late October, President Lobo announced a new security plan and pledged to remove "bad apples" in National Police.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 3 AUG 2023

A new book by journalist Deborah Bonello examines the roles women play in organized crime and argues that their participation…

CHILE / 18 APR 2023

Chile has passed new legislation to empower police forces to fight a rise in crime. But will this really make…

HONDURAS / 17 JUN 2022

The head of the Montes-Bobadilla, a top Honduras drug clan, will be extradited to the US.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…