Central America
Honduras braces for trouble as election begins
AFP
Honduras braced for potential violence as polls opened on Sunday to elect a new president to replace Juan Orlando Hernandez, a controversial figure accused of drug trafficking in the United States.
Voters queued up from dawn at some polling stations before they opened officially at 7:30 am (1330 GMT).
“I call on everyone to proceed with this process in peace, calm, without fear and without violence,” said National Electoral Council president Kelvin Aguirre.
More than five million people are registered to vote in what is expected to be a tight race.
Leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro led opinion polls last month, but the ruling right-wing National Party (PN) — whose candidate is charismatic Tegucigalpa mayor Nasry Asfura — has had the benefit of better campaign organization and resources.
Opposition fears of a rigged poll and reports of pre-election intimidation have led to tension.
“If the PN wins the election, even legitimately, there will be a worrying level of violence,” political analyst Raul Pineda, a lawyer and former PN lawmaker, predicted to AFP.
Four years ago, Hernandez won an unconstitutional second successive term amid cries of fraud from the opposition and international observers.
That sparked a widespread month-long protest, with the subsequent government crackdown leaving more than 30 people dead.
“We are afraid because we work close to where the votes are counted,” Luis Andino, 27, a Tegucigalpa street vendor, told AFP.
“We’re afraid of losing our jobs if there are riots … and we get kicked out of here.”
– ‘Preparing for war’ –
The concerns come for a country already ravaged by violent gangs, drug trafficking and hurricanes, in which 59 percent of the population of 10 million live in poverty.
“A kind of paranoia has developed, people are preparing for war” by stocking up on food and water, said Pineda.
But he insists that pressure from Washington — which wants to reduce the triggers for mass Central American mass migration to the US — along with a large corps of international observers, should at least ensure a transparent vote.
The crucial moment will come three hours after polls close at 5:00 pm, when the National Electoral Council (CNE) is due to announce early results, Gustavo Irias, executive director of the Center for Democracy Studies, told AFP.
“To avoid (violence) will depend on the attitude taken by different political actors, election observers and the US embassy.”
Some 18,000 police and as many soldiers will be on duty around the country.
– ‘No narco-states, only narco-governments’ –
The PN has been in power since Manuel Zelaya — Castro’s husband — was ousted in a 2009 coup supported by the military, business elites and the political right.
Corruption and drug-trafficking scandals have engulfed Hernandez and many of his inner circle in recent years, including Asfura.
Hernandez’s brother Tony is serving a life sentence in a US prison for drug trafficking.
Drug barons that the president helped extradite to the US have accused him of involvement in the illicit trade.
Asfura was accused in 2020 of embezzling $700,000 of public money and was also linked in the Pandora Papers to influence-peddling in Costa Rica.
The third major candidate of 13 in the presidential race, the Liberal Party’s Yani Rosenthal, spent three years in a US jail after admitting to laundering drug-trafficking money.
These scandals have played into former first lady Castro’s hands.
“Honduras is internationally known as a narco-state but there are no narco-states, only narco-governments,” said analyst Pineda.
“People won’t vote for Xiomara (Castro), they will vote against Juan Orlando Hernandez and what he represents.”
Castro, of the LIBRE party, led some opinion polls in October by 12 to 17 percentage points.
Neighboring El Salvador’s populist President Nayib Bukele urged Hondurans on Twitter not to vote for Asfura.
– Unemployment –
For many voters, the main issue is jobs.
Unemployment jumped from 5.7 percent in 2019 to 10.9 percent in 2020, largely because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study by the Autonomous University.
The country was also ravaged by two hurricanes in 2020.
As he begged for money at a traffic light with his eight-month-old daughter in his arms, Elvin Aguilar, 32, said he was hoping the new government would provide “work and everything else.”
Hondurans will also elect the 128 members of the National Congress and 20 representatives of the Central American parliament.
Central America
Panama confirms drug contamination of El Salvador coffee shipment occurred on its territory
A container originating from El Salvador and carrying coffee for export was contaminated with more than 1,152 packages of drugs while in transit through Panama, according to official information confirmed by the Panamanian government this Tuesday.
The case, which had previously generated political controversy in April 2025 after opposition sectors attempted to link the Salvadoran government to drug trafficking, has now been clarified through renewed investigations.
Authorities confirmed that the container departed from the port of Acajutla after being properly inspected, with no illicit substances detected at the time of export.
According to statements previously provided by El Salvador’s Minister of Defense, René Merino Monroy, the shipment traveled first to the port of Balboa in Panama, where it remained stored for several days before being transferred to another vessel bound for Manzanillo in Colón.
It was at that terminal that Panamanian authorities discovered the drugs and identified tampering with the container seals, indicating that the illicit alteration occurred during its transit in Panama rather than in Salvadoran territory.
The findings align with earlier explanations provided by Salvadoran officials and confirm that the contamination of the cargo took place outside of El Salvador’s jurisdiction.
Central America
Uber Eats adds Puntarenas and Turrialba to growing Costa Rica network
Uber Eats announced that it is continuing to expand its presence in Costa Rica with the launch of operations in the cities of Puntarenas and Turrialba, further strengthening the company’s growth in the country.
With this expansion, the delivery platform is now available across all seven Costa Rican provinces and works with more than 6,000 partner businesses. Its offerings include prepared food, supermarkets, pharmacies, pet stores, and other specialty retailers.
As part of the announcement, Uber Eats also introduced Marco Nannipieri as its new Regional General Manager for the Andean Region, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Nannipieri will oversee the company’s operations in Costa Rica along with seven other countries in the region.
“Costa Rica is a key market for Uber Eats in the region, with growing adoption of technology among users and businesses. Over the past five years, more than 1,000 restaurants and merchants have joined the app, and today we are entering a new stage of expansion that will allow us to reach more cities outside the Greater Metropolitan Area, creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs across the country,” Nannipieri said.
Central America
Report questions direction of Nasry Asfura after 100 days in office
The Center for the Study of Democracy warned Tuesday that the government of Nasry Asfura, which marks its first 100 days in office on Wednesday, has failed to show a “significant change in direction” and continues to follow a model characterized by exclusion, inequality, and external dependence.
In its report titled “100 Days of the Nasry Asfura Government: Concerns and Demands,” Cespad stated that the administration has maintained an economic and political model that prioritizes debt payments, the promotion of extractive projects, and the strengthening of the security apparatus over social investment.
The organization argued that the current policies have not addressed structural problems affecting large sectors of the Honduran population and warned that inequality and economic dependence remain key challenges for the country.
Nasry Asfura won the general elections held on November 30, 2025, in a process marked by allegations of fraud and delays in the vote count that lasted nearly a month due to a series of technological failures.
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