Gabriela Castellanos, one of Honduras’ leading anti-corruption advocates, said that she left Central America after receiving threats just weeks after accusing President Xiomara Castro’s government of nepotism. Working as the executive director of the National Anti-Corruption Council (C.N.A.), Castellanos investigated public corruption in Honduras for nearly a decade before abruptly leaving the country with her family and travelling to the U.S. on June 18^th.

Castellanos released news of the departure via social media. “Given the situation of insecurity facing my family and myself, we decided to leave the country and [hope] these events that have occurred in recent weeks can be investigated,” she said in a television interview.

President Castro denies all wrongdoings and maintains that the allegations are entirely false. According to a report published by Reuters, Castro also claims that the C.N.A. deliberately ignored the corruption of former president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges last year.

Castro’s deputy foreign minister, Gerardo Torres, stated that the threats against Castellanos were not coming from within the government. “[We hope] we can figure out where they’re coming from and that Ms. Castellanos can come back to the country,” Torres said.

Not being able to do their jobs without fear of being threatened out of the country makes the C.N.A. incredibly ineffective at rooting out corruption. In order to maintain peace within Honduras, government agencies designed to check the government’s power need to have the capacity to report the corruption they find without being threatened with harm. Additionally, Honduras needs to take those findings seriously in order to maintain a healthy government.

On May 25^th, the C.N.A. released a report warning of a “concentration of power” caused by government positions going to the sons and relatives of President Castro and her husband, former president Manuel Zelaya. Since then, the C.N.A. confirmed that Castellanos has fled the country as a result of receiving threats and that she has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission. According to a report published by AP News, her decision to leave was kept incredibly private and was made among a very small group, with advice from security experts. Castellanos has not stated where the threats are coming from but did say that they began in the three weeks after the report.

Citizens need to have the ability to critique their governments without fear of backlash for a democracy to function. By potentially being the ones to drive Gabriela Castellanos out of Honduras, the current government admits that the reports of nepotism hold some truth and that it is not afraid to use force in order to maintain the current circumstances.