The Latin American Report # 467

Honduras

Sunday in the region was marked by the primary elections in this Central American nation given next November's. Reactions have been quite negative, given the reports of scandalous irregularities in the arrival of critical electoral material to the voting centers, particularly in the capital. An "explanation" offered by an electoral official—tied to the ruling party—is based on the alleged non-compliance of two printers and also on unapproved changes in the organization of the transportation logistics. “They want to steal the elections from the Government, the military is also to blame because they have not complied with the mission of distributing the electoral bags correctly”, denounces an opposition voter who waited for hours to vote in Tegucigalpa even though the electoral material was less than 1 kilometer from her voting center. Transportation logistics in these events is a historical responsibility of the Armed Force, a practice that speaks of the low confidence in the integrity of the electoral process when it is runned by civilian institutions, but at the same time raises flags in the popular perception when evaluating the impartiality and potential influence of the political force in power.

Rixi Moncada, the Minister of Defense, a bishop of the Castro-Zelaya clan who is expected to obtain the candidacy for the ruling party, has been strongly pointed out for the chaos of the day. I find it troubling not only that she has remained in this powerful position while attempting to run for president but that Honduran law does not actively prevent this bad behavior for democracy. In the southeast of the capital, there were reports of people blocking a boulevard with burning tires due to the delay in the arrival of electoral material. Some voters simply went home without voting. “We see that it is clear that our rights are being violated, and we ask the Armed Forces to take responsibility because this is a mockery,” a lawyer told AP. The main concerns of citizens are the economy and security, whose negative dynamics are causing Hondurans to flee en masse to the north and even to Europe. Corruption is another endemic and entrenched evil. Consider the nonsense that one of the possible candidates is Ana García, the wife of former president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.

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The mere fact that she is running for office speaks to us of a dystopian and anomic society. At the closing of her campaign, she played an audio of Hernández in which the latter is heard telling people that “a vote for Ana is a vote for [him], a vote for a better life.” The Castro-Zelaya clan is commonly accused of nepotism, and there are also stains associated with probable links to criminal groups, especially after the leak of a video in which Carlos Zelaya, brother of former President Mel Zelaya, is seen discussing political financing with figures associated with drug trafficking. The scandal hit the government of Xiomara Castro hard, which responded by accusing the United States and threatening to suspend the extradition agreement for which Hernández is serving his sentence, although the potential decision—finally discarded after talks with the Trump administration last month—was oficially linked to certain statements by the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa. The other political force other than the ruling party and the party of the convicted Hernández presents a rare match between two followers of Milei and Bukele, respectively. Still, at night, there were centers where the electoral material had not arrived, with San Pedro Sula as the other locality hardest hit by the electoral mismanagement, which included the loss of ballot boxes. Insane.

#EleccionesPrimariasRP: Incidentes se dan en la Escuala Dilcia Fernández de la Lima, Cortés, obliga a cerrar el centro de votación.#EleccionesPrimarias #CoberturaRP #Honduras pic.twitter.com/IPxlsycpk8
March 10, 2025— Radio Progreso HN (@RadioProgresoHN)