Honduran President Xiomara Castro said Thursday that her surprise decision to end an extradition treaty with the United States was to prevent it from being used in a plot against her government and military leaders.
“A plan is being hatched against my government,” Castro said, a day after announcing the end of the pact that has put powerful drug traffickers in US jails.
Castro said she took the step in response to “interference” by US Ambassador Laura Dogu, who criticized a meeting of senior Honduran officials with Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.
Dogu told reporters that she was surprised to see Honduran Defense Minister Jose Manuel Zelaya and military chief General Roosevelt Hernandez sitting next to a “drug trafficker” in Venezuela.
“They attacked the head of the armed forces and our defense minister — an attack that we cannot allow,” Castro said in a speech while inaugurating an electric power project.
“I will not allow extradition to be used to intimidate or blackmail the Honduran armed forces. We’re defending our armed forces,” said the leftist leader.
Castro’s government is a staunch ally of Venezuela, which is under pressure from Washington and other countries following the disputed reelection of President Nicolas Maduro in July.
