The money supposedly “belongs to an (unidentified) Colombian businessman who resides in the city of Tegucigalpa, who is being summoned by the State Prosecutor’s Office to to give his statement
Colombian senator-elect Piedad Córdoba
Colombian senator-elect Piedad Córdoba was detained this Wednesday in Honduras, with almost 68,000 dollars that she did not declare at an airport in the central region of the Central American country, reported the National Migration Institute (INM).
Córdoba, 67, was detained at the Palmerola International Airport, located in the central Honduran department of Comayagua, according to a brief statement from the INM.
The senator “has been provisionally withheld for investigation for the possession of approximately 68,000 US dollars that were not declared,”, the Honduran institution said.
The money allegedly “It belongs to a Colombian businessman (unidentified) who resides in the city of Tegucigalpa (capital of Honduras), who is being summoned by the Honduran State Prosecutor’s Office to give his statement and to follow the legal procedure corresponding”, indicated the INM.
The senator had the money hidden in a suitcase and was required when she intended to take a commercial flight to Panama, according to local media.
Córdoba and the insured currency were available to the Public Ministry, where the corresponding investigations will be followed up.
The senator arrived in Honduras last Friday, where she supposedly met with government authorities headed by Xiomara Castro, leader of the ruling party Libertad y Refundación (Libre, left).
The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro
Córdoba, who had already been a senator between 1994 and 2010, has been in the eye of the hurricane after an investigation by Noticias Caracol revealed in February a statement made by Andrés Vásquez, former adviser to the congresswoman-elect, to the Prosecutor’s Office. /p>
In it, the man assured that about 15 years ago the policy “had politically capitalized on the delivery of hostages to the point of achieving the release of Íngrid Betancourt and the three U.S. contractors were delayed.”
According to that version, Córdoba wanted to give credit for the release of hostages to the then Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, so that, in turn, this will “catapult” her to the Colombian Presidency.
The senator has also been accused of having links with the alleged figurehead of the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, Álex Saab, who is detained and with the that she would have traveled and done business, as some s political sectors denounce.
(With information from EFE)