International
There is discontent in Honduras over several irregularities in the primary and internal elections
Many Hondurans have expressed their discontent and indignation over several irregularities in the primary and internal elections this Sunday, in which nine hours after the start of the voting the material had not reached the scrutiny centers, mainly in Tegucigalpa.
“They want to steal the elections from the Government, the military is also to blame because they have not fulfilled the mission of correctly distributing the electoral suitcases,” a woman who waited more than three hours to vote at the Republic of Nicaragua School, in the Miraflores neighborhood, in the eastern end of the capital of Honduras, told EFE.
The same woman, who identified herself as a militant of the Liberal Party, second opposition force, said that “it is absurd that the suitcases to this polling center have arrived so late, when the distribution center” of the electoral material “we have it 300 meters away.”
Regarding the recorded incidents, there have been non-coincident statements between the head of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Cossette López, who represents the National Party, the first opposition force, and another of the councilors, Marlon Ochoa, of Libre.
Among the recorded facts is the hiring, at the last minute, of urban transport minibuses, which have circulated through the capital without electoral and military custodians, which has created suspicion among citizens.
López told journalists that some ballot boxes do not appear and that she herself will go looking for them, and that the CNE will investigate why the delay in the distribution of electoral material was due.
In some polling stations, the material had not arrived nine hours after the start of the elections, which were opened at 07:00 local time (13:00 GMT).
“We are not looking for culprits, but solutions” and “do not contribute to misinformation or chaos. We have a report from the Armed Forces and only 24 educational centers remain to open, but those data do not match, ten trucks were exchanged for 90 buses to transport the electoral suitcases, the transport company has failed us,” López said.
Another unusual fact is that state minibuses have appeared full of electoral suitcases.
In the midst of this situation, hundreds of Hondurans went out to different streets of Tegucigalpa to protest the delay in the arrival of the material for the elections.
With flags with the blue and white of Honduras, the demonstrators burned tires in the four lanes of the Armed Forces boulevard, where the transit of vehicles had been interrupted for more than two hours.
“Out of the family” and “We want the polls” were the main slogans of the demonstrators in front of the Toribio Bustillo and Juan Guifarro López schools, in the Las Brisas and Betania neighborhoods, southeast of Tegucigalpa.
“We need the ballot boxes, because we want to vote, they have stolen our votes,” Dimas Hernández, one of the demonstrators, told EFE while holding a flag of the country.
Some of the polling centers in Tegucigalpa opened with two hours of delay, but in others, such as the Toribio Bustillo and Juan Guifarro López schools, until 16:00 local time (22:00 GMT) they had not even received the electoral material, according to EFE.
The demonstrators warned that they will not lift the blockade of the boulevard until the National Electoral Council (CNE) sends the electoral suitcases, which has not allowed more than 1,000 people to exercise their right to vote.
Similar protests were also reported in the Morazán, La Travesía, La Joya and 21 de Octubre neighborhoods, among others.
The head of the CNE said that the people of Honduras have trusted them to develop the electoral process and that is why they were “shating their faces.”
Councilor Marlon Ochoa said that the delay in the delivery of the ballots is partly due to the non-compliance with the schedule of two printers corresponding to the department of Comayagua, center.
“If these printers had delivered on time, we would not have had to suspend the flows of making the electoral suitcase in the electoral logistics center for the office of the Central District (Tegucigalpa) punctually,” he stressed.
In addition, “there is a non-compliance of the transport provider, it was never considered in the specifications that transport in the Central District was going to be carried out by buses” and “in the same way, this change in the conditions with the transport provider was never accepted or communicated with the plenary of councilors,” he added.
“Thirdly, there are or were errors attributable to the National Electoral Council related to the loading and dispatch of electoral material in the Central District,” he said.
According to data from the Network for the Defense of Democracy (RDD), 67% of its observers recorded “delays” in the delivery of electoral material and the opening of the polls, while 33.3% reported logistical problems in the delivery of suitcases.
In addition, 50% of the observers of the GDR denounced “restrictions on the right and duty of electoral observation” by members of the Vote Receiving Board.
The head of the National Party bench, Tomás Zambrano, denounced that Libre “is boycotting” the elections with “the support of a highly ideological sector of the FFAA (Armed Forces).”
“This that Honduras is experiencing is not an accident, it is not a coincidence, it is the Venezuela in action plan, Libre is boycotting the elections with the support of a highly ideological sector of the Armed Forces… the delays in the arrival of electoral material and the opening of the polls had never happened, nothing is a coincidence,” Zambrano emphasized in X.
The National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras (Conadeh) asked Hondurans this Sunday to “stay calm and avoid confrontations.”
The human rights agency also called for avoiding the spread of disinformation and denouncing any irregularities.
“These problems generate special concern, since delays and lack of information affect the normal development of the electoral process, reducing public trust and generating uncertainty among the population. The perception of irregularities, misinformation and chaos can affect the transparency of the process and the legitimacy of the results,” Conadeh stressed.
For their part, opposition leaders blamed the Honduran Armed Forces and the Minister of Defense, Rixi Moncada, who is also the presidential pre-candidate of the ruling Freedom and Refoundation (Free) party, for the delay in the primary and internal elections.
The elections, which are prior to the general elections of November 30, began at 07:00 local time (13:00 GMT), but more than five hours later in several polling centers, mainly in Tegucigalpa, the capital, the material had not reached the polling stations, in an unprecedented fact. In other processes there were some delays, but for less time.
The distribution of all the material, by law, has always corresponded to the Armed Forces, whose Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Roosevelt Hernández, told journalists that the delay has obeyed “part of the experience that is being acquired.”
In addition, he acknowledged that in Tegucigalpa the distribution of electoral material began late, so some centers were arriving five hours later, as part of “the experience” that the military institution is acquiring.
The distribution of all electoral material at the national level, under the responsibility of the Armed Forces, began on March 4.
The allegations against the Minister of Defense are derived because she is also the presidential pre-candidate of Libre, whose party came to power after the triumph in the general elections of November 2021.
Moncada, according to Jorge Cálix, one of the presidential pre-candidates of the Liberal Party, the second opposition force, seeks to discourage voters of the Liberal and National parties, given the little support that she would have in Libre.
The senior military chief reiterated that the delay in the delivery of the material in some polling centers in the Honduran capital “are lessons learned” and that the Armed Forces are a “very professional” institution.
Hernández downplayed the opposition and many voters who blame the Armed Forces and the Minister of Defense, arguing that “it is not what a person can say, or analysts, are the actions and we are in the best disposition,” and that they were “looking for the solution to any unforeseen event.”
The 2025 electoral process in the country is costing Hondurans, with their taxes, 2 billion lempiras (78.4 million dollars), in a country where more than 60% of its ten million inhabitants live in poverty.
The primary and internal elections held in Honduras were extended for four hours in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, the two most important cities in the country, due to incidents recorded in several polling stations, to which the ballots had not reached.
On national radio and television, the head of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Cossette López, announced that the elections, which are prior to the general elections of November 30, will be extended until 21:00 local time (03:00 GMT) in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula.
He added that in the remaining 296 municipalities of the country the elections ended at 17:00 hours (23:00 GMT), as planned.
López asked the population that had not exercised the suffrage, to go out to exercise that right, despite the incidents, in what constitutes an unprecedented event in the Central American country, although in other processes there were delays, but not so prolonged.
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
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