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Ares(2023)7457530 - 02/11/2023

DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO HONDURAS

Author: Mickaël ROUDAUT

Date: 01/11/2023

□ To be shared with Member States Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

□ To be shared with Parliament

To: Brian Glynn, MD Americas

Subject: HONDURAS / FLASH Constitutional crisis

Summary: Outbreak of violence amid a constitutional crisis after Ruling Party, LIBRE,
imposes the election for the Attorney General and his Deputy.

Assessment: The ongoing political crisis regarding the election of the Attorney General reached new
heights in what opposition and many analysts described as a self-coup given the apparent disregard
for Constitutional laws by the ruling party, LIBRE.

The President of the National Congress, Luis Redondo, who has become a strong LIBRE supporter
(even though initially from the PSH), is undertaking a policy of fait accompli so as to impose LIBRE’
candidates as Attorney and Deputy Attorney General.

The decision to set up a Permanent Commission, only composed of LIBRE Diputados, seems
blatantly both illegal and illegitimate, since the Commission, although foreseen by the constitution,
does not respect the real balance of forces withing the Congress after the 2021 General Elections.

LIBRE justifies the movement (which reminds of the imposition of Luis Redondo and his “Junta
Directiva” in a similar crisis in January 2022) based on the strong blockade of the opposition to agree
on the candidates proposed by LIBRE, accusing the “Narcodictadura” of trying to prevent the election
of a new Attorney in order to secure impunity. On the other side, opposition accuses LIBRE of being
willing to control all powers of the state and of trying to impose a Communist regime.

President Xiomara Castro silence speaks for itself, while her husband and LIBRE leader Mel Zelaya
seems to be orchestrating the crisis to impose a favourable General Attorney, therefore controlling
de facto the three powers.

This new crisis highlights once more the extreme weakness of institutionalism in Honduran. As it
happened so many times in recent Honduran history, this crisis represents a new episode of total
lack of respect for Constitution and Rule of Law, which every party tries to twist according to political
and even particular interests.

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This crisis breaks out 11 days before the arrival of MP Z. Zovko, the Head of the mission in charge
of assessing the follow-up of the EOM sent in 2021. This situation could put her visit at risk.

The USA and UN have issued Xs condemning violence and calling for dialogue and respect to the
Constitution. US embassy had even called for an election of the Attorney with the necessary qualified
majority. EU HOMs have issued a joint X with the following text:

“The European Union, together with the Embassies of Spain, Germany and France, express their
deep concern at the violent acts that have occurred in the National Congress of Honduras. We call
for respectful and democratic dialogue to put an end to the legislative paralysis, while ensuring
compliance with the Constitution and the rule of law”.

DETAIL:
1. The parliamentary sessions at the National Congress have been suspended for 2 months due to
the inability to reach an agreement on the election, at qualified majority, of the new Attorney
General and his Deputy.
2. Yesterday night (night from 31st October to 1st November), during the last day of the ordinary
sessions, opposition political parties gathered in the National Congress (self-convocation) to vote
the extension of the legal timeline for ordinary sessions. Their vote was considered illegal by
President of Congress who previously announced an extraordinary session of the Congress for
the 2nd of November.
3. In the meantime, orders were given to close the entrance doors of the Congress resulting in
diputados being effectively sealed off while others tried to join in. The ruling Party summoned his
sympathizers (colectivos – a violent mob) to swarm the entrance of the Congress in an outbreak
of violence against diputados from opposition parties willing to enter the building.
4. The President of the National Congress, Luis Redondo, announced later on, during the night, the
creation of a Permanent Commission in charge of selecting the new Attorney General and Deputy
Attorney General. This Commission was only composed of Diputados (nine) from LIBRE.
5. Only a few hours later, the Permanent Commission officially announced the election of Johel
Antonio Zelaya (as acting Attorney General) and Mario Alexis Morazán (as acting Deputy
Attorney General) while violent outbreaks are still happening at the Congress entrance (at the
moment of writing these lines). Both Johel Antonio Zelaya and Mario Alexis Morazán were then
swiftly sworn in.
6. In the aftermath of this announcement, the Prosecutor Office (Ministerio Publico) published a
statement disavowing the legality of the election of the new acting Attorney General and his acting
Deputy. They confirmed the only legal authority remains the current Deputy Attorney General
Daniel Sibrián (the former Attorney General left his post on 31 August).
7. The Ministerio Publico was joined by the main opposition political parties. They all published
statements condemning this “sham election” and confirming the authority of Daniel Sibrián.
8. Demonstrations are now taking place in front of the Attorney General Office.

Sign-off: Jaume SEGURA SOCIAS, HoD

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FERNANDEZ SILVA Cibran CAB President Michel
CASTRO Pelayo CAB HRVP Borrell
CAB DOMBROVSKIS CONTACT
JURCZAK Kasia CAB Lenarcic
PATRICIU Alexandra CAB Urpilainen
BUE Charlotte EEAS.SG.OFFICE
LEE Breda EEAS.POL.DSG.EUSR
ROPONEN Suvi DSG-ECO OFFICE
BENITEZ JIMENEZ-UGARTE Pablo DSG-POL OFFICE
EEAS SG STRAT DIRECTOR
NINO PEREZ Javier EEAS.AMERICAS.DMD
MENDEZ DEL RIO CABRA Lucia EEAS.AMERICAS
REYES ORTEGA Tomas EEAS.AMERICAS
EEAS AMERICAS.1
HATWELL Jonathan EEAS.AMERICAS.2
KRAS Karolien EEAS.AMERICAS.2
LOGOFATU Ioana EEAS.AMERICAS.2
VAZQUEZ GARRIDO Adriana EEAS.AMERICAS
MUSCHEIDT Bettina EEAS.AMERICAS
MARTÍNEZ CARBONELL Belén EEAS.GLOBAL.MD
MAC CALL Neal EEAS.GLOBAL.VMR.2
VAREILLE Fabrice EEAS.GLOBAL.VMR.2
MASURE Stephanie EEAS.GLOBAL.VMR.2
RAGHER Luisa EEAS.GLOBAL.VMR.3
WAROLIN Raphaël EEAS.GLOBAL.VMR.3
FERRAN Myriam INTPA DGA1
LE-BERIGOT Tristan INTPA DGA1
FERNANDEZ SHAW Felix INTPA.B
MONTERO MELIS INTPA.B.1
BERGHMANS Els INTPA.B.1
COUGE Lise INTPA.B.1
ZACCHEO Felice INTPA.B.2
MARTINEZ Paula INTPA.B.2
UUSKAM Karin INTPA.B.2
DE JONCHEERE Amanda Lucia INTPA.B.2
REPORTING CORE LIST
ROUDAUT Mickael (EEAS)
CALVO PUERTA Antonia (EEAS)
del-canada.hod DEL-CANADA
del-usa.hod DEL-USA
del-un-newyork.hod DEL-UN-NEWYORK
del-mexico.hod DEL-MEXICO
del-guatemala.hod DEL-GUATEMALA
del-el-salvador.hod DEL-EL-SALVADOR.002
del-nicaragua.hod DEL-NICARAGUA
del-costa-rica.hod DEL-COSTA-RICA
del-panama.delegation panama hod
del-cuba.head of delegation DEL-CUBA.001
del-jamaica.delegation jamaica hod DEL-JAMAICA
del-dominican.hod DEL-DOMINICAN
del-haiti.hod DEL-HAITI
del-barbados.hod DEL-BARBADOS
del-trinidad-tobago.hod DEL-TRINIDAD-TOBAGO
del-guyana.hod DEL-GUYANA
del-colombia.hod DEL-COLOMBIA
del-venezuela.hod DEL-VENEZUELA
del-brazil.hod DEL-BRAZIL
del-peru.hod DEL-PERU
del-ecuador.hod DEL-ECUADOR
del-bolivia.hod DEL-BOLIVIA
del-chile.hod DEL-CHILE
del-argentina.hod DEL-ARGENTINA
del-paraguay.hod DEL-PARAGUAY.001
del-uruguay.hod DEL-URUGUAY
FPI Regional Team Americas
delegation-new-york-hod
delegation-geneva-hod-un
delegation-geneva-hod-wto
Delegation-Vienna-HOD
SCHOCKAERT Liesbeth (ECHO Panama City)
DOBRAN Cosmin EEAS.PCM
RIUTORD SAMPOL Guillem EEAS.PCM 2
MARZI Marco EEAS.PCM 2
DE LARA RUIZ Ana EEAS.PCM 2
GARZOTTI Paolo TRADE.D.2
COUPLEUX Olivier TRADE.D.2
DE LUCA Massimo DEL-COSTA-RICA.001
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