The vice president of the Honduran Congress has claimed that police chiefs say up to 40 percent of their officers are involved in organized crime.
Speaking on a morning talk show, Marvin Ponce, a vocal critic of the Honduran security forces, claimed that police chiefs had confided their concerns about widespread corruption within their ranks to the leaders of the main political parties in the Honduran Congress.
Ponce spoke of the “importance of telling the truth in this country,” and not showing fear.
However, the director of the security forces in San Pedro Sula, Commissioner Hector Ivan Mejia, said that the congressman’s allegations were without foundation.
Honduran news source Proceso points out that Ponce, a member of the leftist Democratic Union party, is an advocate for the introduction of a “security tax” in Honduras which would aim to create a special fund to strengthen public safety programs.
InSight Crime has previously reported on allegations of police abuse in Honduras.