Manuel Zelaya says he was “wrongly” detained at Toncontin International Airport and denies having the $ 18,000 in cash.
Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Friday he was “wrongly” detained at the Central American nation’s Toncontin International Airport for carrying $ 18,000 in cash, which he did not say.
“I don’t know the origin of this money. Obviously someone must have put it in my things. I have traveled 400 times and I know that you cannot travel with that amount of money. We need to investigate who put this money into my things, ”Zelaya told the local media.
He previously wrote on Twitter that he was “wrongly detained”.
“The reason, a bag of money with $ 18,000 that isn’t mine. Now in the presence of the prosecutor, ”wrote Zelaya. He said he was stopped at immigration control at Toncontin Airport after a search of his hand luggage.
A spokesman for the Honduras prosecutor said Zelaya was “not detained”.
“What happens is what the law says, which means to document [what happened] and as soon as this is completed and signed by former President Zelaya, stating that the money is not his, he can leave without any problems, ”spokesman Yuri Mora told Reuters.
Zelaya, who led Honduras from 2006 to 2009 and was an ally of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, was ousted by the military in a coup in June 2009 as he prepared to hold a referendum on the re-election of the president his opponents considered a trick to staying in power.
He continued to be politically active as chairman of the left-wing Partido Libertad y Refundacion (Party for Freedom and Restructuring), and his wife took part in the 2013 presidential election.
The former president told local media that he plans to travel to Houston, Texas for a layover before flying to his final destination, Mexico, where he will hold a conference on Saturday.
Human trafficking and money laundering control laws state that a maximum of US $ 10,000 can be removed from the country, which must be reported to the authorities.
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