Honduran president faces call to resign as video scandal intensifies

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - A leading anti-corruption activist called on Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday to resign after a video surfaced that appeared to show her brother-in-law negotiating campaign donations with drug traffickers over a decade ago.

The video emerged a week after the leftist Castro ordered an end to an extradition treaty with the United States, which was used to take her conservative predecessor to face trial in New York where he was convicted on charges stemming from large-scale cocaine trafficking.

In a letter to Castro posted on social media, Gabriela Castellanos, the head of the National Anti-Corruption Council, argued the president should resign due to "serious drug trafficking accusations brought against (your) family circle."

If Castro stays on, it would undermine the rule of law and security in the Central American nation, she added. Her letter did not provide evidence of ongoing corruption.

The video clips showing ex-lawmaker Carlos Zelaya, the brother of Castro's husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, meeting in 2013 with Los Cachiros drug gang leaders were published on Tuesday by Insight Crime and U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision.

In the video, the traffickers offer money for Castro's campaign, just days before she went on to lose a previous run for president.

Castro's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the push for her to resign.

Last week, Carlos Zelaya told reporters he did meet with drug traffickers to discuss a campaign contribution, but he denied knowing they were traffickers at the time nor receiving any money. He also tendered his resignation from Congress.

Castro ordered the withdrawal from an extradition treaty with the United States on Aug. 29, angered by criticism from the U.S. ambassador about a meeting between Honduran defense officials and Venezuela's defense minister, who faces U.S. drug trafficking charges.

At the time, she said there was a coup plot against her and pledged to block the extradition treaty from being used to "intimidate or blackmail" her government.    

Elected three years ago on a promise to crack down on drug trafficking and corruption, she frequently accused her predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernandez, of leading a "narco-dictatorship."

Hernandez's brother, also a former lawmaker, was arrested in the United States in 2018 and convicted of drug running the next year.

For over at least a century, the United States has been playing a large role in Honduran politics, basing troops there since the Cold War and backing Hernandez even after claims of fraud in his 2017 reelection.

(This story has been refiled to fix garble in sign-off credits)

(Reporting by Brendan O'Boyle in Mexico City and Orfa Mejia in Tegucigalpa; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Sandra Maler)