Tegucigalpa: Leftist Xiomara Castro has made a shot at becoming Honduras’ first female president by winning an election on Sunday and ending years of conservative rule with ties to corruption and drug traffickers.
An alliance with former rival candidate Salvador Nasralla, a popular television host, promoted 62-year-old Castro to the polls.
She has said she will explore the possibility of establishing diplomatic ties with China if she defeats the ruling party’s candidate, Nasri Asafura, which could lead to tensions with Washington.
But US President Joe Biden, who sees the weak rule of law in Central America as a huge emigration to the United States, may approve his pledge to seek help from the United Nations to create an anti-corruption agency.
“We are going to build a fair and competitive Honduras that fights corruption and drug trafficking,” Castro said in the final week of her bid to make history as the first female president in the Central American nation, Western The poorest in the hemisphere and a major source of immigrants arriving at the US border at record levels.
Her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, was ousted in a 2009 coup after allying with the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, a socialist. His successor, former President Porfirio Lobo, and President Juan Orlando Hernández, both of the National Party, have both been arrested on charges of links to drug traffickers. Jelaya was also accused of taking bribes from smugglers. They have all denied wrongdoing.
Last month, Castro tied up with 2017 runner-up Nasralla. After the alliance, an opinion poll by the Tegucigalpa-based Institute for Democratic Studies (CESPAD) showed him a 17-point lead over the ruling National Party’s Asafura.
However, not all polls give him such a strong edge; A rival poll from a local television station on the same day showed a tied race.
The contest promises to be the latest shake-up in the volatile politics of Central America, where democratic standards have eroded in recent years in Honduras and neighboring El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Across the region, increased migration has been linked to allegations of corruption by international drug gangs.
The United States has long played a decisive role in Honduran politics, basing troops there since the Cold War and supporting Hernandez even after fraudulent claims in his re-election four years earlier.
“We urge the US government not to make this mistake again,” CESPAD chief Gustavo Irias wrote in a commentary published this week.
Asafura, the two-term mayor of the capital city, is popular for local construction projects. He has not released a campaign platform unlike Castro.
No matter which candidate is chosen, Biden’s administration could face a dilemma about how to re-examine ties with Tegucigalpa.
“We think it’s going to be a really close contest,” said Central America’s International Crisis Group analyst Tiziano Breda. He pointed out that opposition voters may be confused by the name of Nasralla, who appears on the ballot despite the tie-up. remains.
‘Very concerned’
Sunday’s election is expected to see a strong presence from election observers, with the Honduran Congress and other local races also set to grab hold.
A close race would increase the risk of irregularities, observers fear. The national party has a history of using state resources to mobilize voters.
US Senator Tim Kaine, a keen observer from Honduras, expressed unhappiness about the prospect of a fraud-free vote.
“I’m very concerned about it,” he said in a phone interview, citing migration and drug trafficking among the corruption-driven issues that make Honduras’ future crucial to the United States.
“We should pay more attention,” he said. “Our future destinies are clearly going to be intertwined.”
On Wednesday, Kaine and Republican Senator Marco Rubio jointly signed a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning of “political instability and violence” if Honduran and foreign observers deem the election results illegitimate.
If Castro prevails, one of Washington’s main concerns will be whether it moves forward with its pledge in September to turn over Honduras’ decades-old diplomatic support for Taiwan to China, a senior Biden administration official said. told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
A US delegation has urged Honduran candidates to maintain ties with Taiwan. A Castro aide said on Tuesday that the issue was still not settled.
President Hernandez has toyed with changing allegiance to China before, but this month traveled to Taiwan to re-emphasize their relationship. While a change would upset Washington, it could create diversity and balance in Honduras’ superpower ties, Breda said, attracting more infrastructure finance.
If 63-year-old Asafura wins, the US administration is thoroughly optimistic that they can still make some inroads against corruption, but note that corruption is so deep within the national party that it will take a long time to overcome. It will take US official added.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
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