Why does it matter that a foreign government is accusing Axel Lopez?
According to the U.S. State Department’s Honduras 2020 Human Rights Report, the judicial system in Honduras is “poorly funded and staffed, inadequately equipped, often ineffective, and subject to intimidation, corruption, politicization, and patronage” and that “credible observers noted problems in trial procedures, such as a lack of admissible evidence, judicial corruption, widespread public distrust of the legal system.” If sent to Honduras, Axel, an American citizen, would be subject to a prison system described as “harsh and sometimes life-threatening,” with prisoners suffering from “overcrowding, insufficient access to food and water, violence, and alleged abuse by prison officials.” This year, bills have been filed in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to “suspend certain United States assistance for the Government of Honduras until corruption, impunity, and human rights violations are no longer systemic.”