Honduras’s Anti-Corruption Initiative Ends
Honduran officials deliberate reforms at a MACCIH meeting. (Flickr)
Four years after the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH) was granted its mandate, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Honduran government did not renew MACCIH.
Last week on January 2, MACCIH’s interim leader Ana María Calderón announced her resignation. According to her departing statement, she made the decision due to “strictly personal and professional reasons.”
Shortly after, it was announced that the OAS and the Honduran government did not prolong their agreement, meaning that MACCIH would then cease its operations, according to the International Business Times.
Honduras has had a long history with corruption. With a 26 out of 100 score on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, Honduras ranks in the most corrupt 20 percent of countries.
Reports by Insight Crime referred to corruption as “the operating system” in Honduras, with deeply institutionalized ties that favor a small circle of elites. Unchecked corruption is at the heart of Honduras’s problems; thus, MACCIH was born.
OAS and the Government of Honduras signed MACCIH into existence on January 19, 2016. MACCIH operations began in Honduras in April that year. Since then, it has focused on “active cooperation, technical advice, supervision and oversight of the State institutions responsible for preventing, investigating, and punishing acts of corruption.”
MACCIH was also the OAS’s first anti-corruption initiative held in a member state.
Since its creation, MACCIH has faced serious problems regarding its lack of independence in comparison to other international anti-corruption initiatives. As Latin America Reports explains, a lot of MACCIH’s success relies on its relationship with the Honduran Attorney General and Congress.
Through this initiative, investigations like the First Lady’s Safe, which revealed the former First Lady’s misappropriation of public funds, and Pandora, which exposed a network of 38 corrupt politicians, were brought to light.
About a dozen corruption cases were uncovered under MACCIH’s mandate, which, according to Global Americans, “were enough to scare the country’s political elite—an elite that is unaccustomed to being held accountable.”
In a country like Honduras, where corruption is a pressing issue, many feel that MACCIH continues to be necessary. A public opinion poll revealed that “61.3% of Hondurans would like the Mission to continue its work.”
The news of the Mission’s end was not only met with disappointment, but also outrage. Ana Rosa Quintana, a Spanish journalist, said that “President Hernandez has been on a crusade to shut down the MACCIH,” and that its end is unsurprising. Despite these allegations, President Hernandez took to Twitter to state that his vow to end corruption remains alive.
Conversation continues over whether the end of MACCIH will be a fatal blow to Honduras’ prolonged fight against corruption.