Colombian senator-elect Piedad Córdoba was released this Thursday in Honduras after being detained on Wednesday at an airport in the country after she tried to travel to Panama with almost 68,000 dollars in her suitcase without declaring, an official source reported.
"After the investigations and the documentation presented to the Public Ministry, (Córdoba) is no longer in administrative retention" in Honduras, the National Migration Institute (INM) said in a statement.
The Colombian senator, 67, "she does not have any mobility restrictions, so she is totally free to stay or leave the country as she decides"he added.
Córdoba was provisionally detained on Wednesday at the Palmerola International Airport, located in the central region of Honduras, when she intended to board a flight to Panama.
The case was heard by the Honduran Public Ministry, an agency that had 48 hours to investigate the origin of the money, according to that institution.
Honduran law allows up to 10,000 dollars as the maximum amount of money that a person can carry, as long as they prove its origin.
The Honduran Vice Minister of Security, Julissa Villanueva, evaluated today "the medical condition and (the) place" where Córdoba, who had already been a senator between 1994 and 2010, remained in police custody.
"Evaluate the medical condition and location of former senator Piedad Córdoba, who remains in custody by the @PoliciaHonduras, in accordance with legal procedures. Respect for human rights is unrestricted for everyone in Honduras"according to a message from Villanueva on Twitter, which accompanies a photograph of Colombian politics.
According to the Government of Honduras, the senator arrived in the country last Sunday to "participate in activities of various women’s and human rights organizations, as has been disseminated with photographs and videos in the media and social networks".
In a statement, the Executive headquarters in Tegucigalpa indicated that Córdoba requested an audience on Tuesday with the Honduran president, Xiomara Castro, "in order to greet her and was received as a friend and political leader".
"The Government of the Republic reaffirms its commitment to transparency and respect for migration and immigration regulations"affirmed the Presidency of Honduras.
In February, in an investigation by Noticias Caracol, a statement was made to the Prosecutor’s Office by Andrés Vásquez, former adviser to the elected congresswoman.
In it, the man assured that about 15 years ago the "would have politically capitalized on the delivery of hostages to the point of delaying the release of Íngrid Betancourt and the three U.S. contractors".
The senator has also been accused of having links with the alleged figurehead of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Álex Saab, who is detained and with whom she would have traveled and done business, as some political sectors denounce.