Broad Honduras amnesty law draws critics

By MARLON GONZÁLEZ
Associated Press

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras President Xiomara Castro’s anticorruption image appeared to take an early hit with passage of a law that grants a broad amnesty to people tied to her husband’s administration more than a decade earlier. The law published in the official gazette covers a wide range of legal infractions. Its defenders say it was needed for those who suffered political persecution following the 2009 coup that removed President Manuel Zelaya from office. But the debate could be moot because it was passed by a new congress that has been in crisis since before Castro was sworn as president last month.