Sending his experts of the United Nations arrived in Honduras, to discuss creation international anti-corruption mission in the Central American country, where this endemic phenomenon is exacerbating poverty and pushing even more citizens to emigrate, the authorities announced yesterday Sunday.

The president Xiomara Castro had promised before the election that such a mission would be created, to be called International Commission Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (CICIH).

About a year and a half after she took office, civil society groups are now expressing despair at the delay, as her government and the United Nations have yet to reach an agreement and the commission has not been formed.

Xiomara Castro’s government signed a memorandum of understanding with the UN in December to establish the mission in Honduras, where, according to US diplomats, every year 3 billion dollars are lost due to corruption.

And this in a country where the 74% of the population lives in poverty, according to official statistics.

“We will start negotiations with the UN envoys on the conditions for the establishment of the international body to combat the dispute,” Foreign Minister Enrique Reyna told the media yesterday. The government added that it wants to “have autonomy” to a sufficient extent to facilitate the “prosecution of corruption”.

The duration of the experts’ stay in Honduras where he was expected to have meetings with various partners was not specified.

The UN has called for the repeal or revision of laws that prevent prosecutors from investigating and prosecuting officials and parliamentarians for misuse of public funds and money laundering.

The degree of independence CICIH will enjoy to investigate corruption cases is also a sticking point in the talks.

CICIH is the second anti-corruption commission to operate in Honduras.

In 2016, the mission to support the fight against corruption and impunity was created (MACCIH)with his help Organization of American States (OAS) and the then US government, under Barack Obama.

MACCIH is credited with exposing the corruption of officials, parliamentarians and politicians, several of whom were linked to then Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

The shipment left the country on 2020since the OAK could not agree with the Hernandez government to extend its mandate.

Shortly after he left power to his principals 2022former president Hernandez was indicted in the US for drug trafficking.