Honduran envoy resigns after sex party at Bogota embassy

A high-level investigation in Honduras surrounding a Christmas sex party at the country's embassy in Bogota, which resulted in the robbery of a computer and damage to diplomatic property, has cost the Central American nation's ambassador to Colombia his job.

An inspector from the Honduran Foreign Ministry was expected to travel to Bogota this week to see if more diplomats were responsible for the December 20 party, in which an aide to the ambassador hired two prostitutes to entertain his guests.

I am truly embarrassed by all this"

Honduran ambassador Carlos Humberto Rodríguez Andino stepped down from his post on Saturday after the Tegucigalpa daily El Heraldo broke the story the day before. "I am truly embarrassed by all this," Rodríguez told a local Honduran television station Sunday night.

According to El Heraldo, an aide to the ambassador had gone out with friends in Bogota's red-light district and picked up two prostitutes, bringing them back to the embassy for a late-night party. After providing their services, the women asked for money but the men refused to pay them.

When the partiers fell asleep, the women took revenge by defecating in the ambassador's office before stealing a computer. El Heraldo reported that cellphones and other official equipment were also taken, but Rodríguez Andino, who was in Tegucigalpa at the time, denied this.

"I found out three or four days later and I told the police that we wanted to keep this investigation under wraps, and that once I got back to the embassy I would take the corrective measures," he told Cholusat Sur television. He explained that the computer that was stolen belonged to the economic affairs attaché and had no information that could compromise Honduras.

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo said that it was unfortunate that the situation had occurred. "It is unfortunate because Carlos Rodríguez is a good man and a good citizen, and I regret what has happened," he said at a press conference on Monday. "Sadly, Rodríguez is unfit [to serve]."

Living at the embassy

El Heraldo reported that the aide who organized the party, Jorge Amador, was living at the embassy. "He is a trusted friend whom I have known for 11 years. We are very sorry about this," said Rodríguez, who described Amador as an assistant who helped his wife and children when he was away on official business.

The controversy has prompted comparisons with another sex scandal, involving members of the US Secret Service last April in Cartagena, Colombia during President Obama's visit for the Summit of the Americas. More than a dozen Secret Service officers were implicated in a congressional inquiry after a disturbance broke out at the hotel where they were staying when one member apparently refused to pay a prostitute, leading her to call the police.