Tegucigalpa: Thousands of angry, torch-bearing Hondurans marched on Friday to call for the resignation of President Juan Hernandez and demand an independent probe into one of the worst corruption scandals in the country`s history.
Some 25,000 protesters chanted slogans against Hernandez as they marched to the presidential palace from a poor neighborhood in the capital, past a commercial zone filled with malls.
A coalition of opposition political groups is demanding an independent investigation into a $200-million corruption scandal at the Honduran Institute of Social Security, where companies, some formed by institute officials, overcharged for services.
Hernandez on Tuesday offered to start a dialogue with the groups, but they insist on an independent prosecutor staffed by foreigners, similar to a United Nations-backed commission that has led corruption probes in Guatemala.
Hernandez admited that his 2013 presidential campaign took some $150,000 from companies linked to the scandal, but said he and his party were unaware of where the money came from.
