International
Honduras ruling party accepts election defeat by Xiomara Castro
AFP
Honduras’s leftist presidential candidate Xiomara Castro was headed for election victory Tuesday — making history as the first woman to govern the Central American nation — with her rival from the ruling rightwing National Party conceding defeat.
With just over 52 percent of votes counted, former first lady Castro led with 53.49 percent compared with 33.98 percent for her nearest challenger, the conservative Nasry Asfura.
While Hondurans were nervously awaiting the final election results, Asfura said he met with the LIBRE party candidate and her family to concede and congratulate her.
“I wish that God may enlighten and guide her so that her administration does the best” for Honduras, Asfura said in a video released by the National Party (PN).
The closely watched poll came four years after presidential elections marred by fraud claims and violence, and the PN was quick to highlight “the climate of peace and tranquility in the country” even though the ruling party was ousted from power.
Washington also hailed the Honduran people and their “free and fair election.”
“We congratulate them and President Elect @XiomaraCastroZ and look forward to working together to strengthen democratic institutions, promote inclusive economic growth, and fight corruption,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted.
Castro’s husband Manuel Zelaya was deposed in a 2009 coup supported by the military, business elites and the political right.
On Sunday, she vowed to lead “a reconciliation government” in a country wracked by violent crime, drug trafficking, rampant corruption and large-scale migration to the United States.
Castro’s victory would break 12 years of PN rule and four decades of hegemony shared with the Liberal Party.
– ‘Largely calm and peaceful’ –
There have been no reports of violence related to Sunday’s vote, a far cry from the deadly protests that broke out when Juan Orlando Hernandez won a second successive term in a 2017 election that the opposition said was stolen.
More than 30 people died as authorities cracked down on that month-long protest.
The European Union on Tuesday welcomed the “largely calm and peaceful atmosphere” of the latest election, though the run-up was marked by “unprecedented levels of political violence and intense polarization.”
An observer mission on the ground also noted “a number of deficiencies in the institutional management and preparation of the elections,” according to a statement from the office of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Vote counting has been slow, with the first half of ballots arriving at the National Electoral Council in digital format while the rest must be physically delivered.
The campaign was bitter, with the National Party trying to attach a “communist” label to Castro and attacking her support for legalizing abortion and same-sex marriage, touchy subjects in deeply conservative Honduras.
In turn, Castro branded Hernandez a “narco-dictator.”
Corruption and drug-trafficking scandals have engulfed Hernandez and many in his inner circle.
Meanwhile, Asfura was accused in 2020 of embezzling $700,000 of public money and the Pandora Papers — a trove of leaked documents exposing offshore accounts — linked him to influence peddling in Costa Rica.
Some 59 percent of Honduras’s 10 million people live in poverty.
Unemployment jumped from 5.7 percent in 2019 to 10.9 percent the following year, largely because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study by the Autonomous University.
Washington has been keeping a close eye on the election, with Honduras the starting point for waves of migrant caravans trying to reach the United States.
International
Chile enters runoff campaign with Kast leading and Jara seeking a last-minute comeback
Chile’s presidential runoff campaign for the December 14 election kicked off this Sunday, with far-right candidate José Antonio Kast entering the race as the clear favorite in the polls, while left-wing contender Jeannette Jara faces an uphill scenario, hoping for a comeback that some experts describe as “a miracle.”
The final polls released in Chile—published before the mandatory blackout on survey dissemination—give Kast, an ultraconservative former lawmaker running for president for the third time, a lead of between 12 and 16 points. His opponent, the communist former minister in Gabriel Boric’s current administration, is weighed down not only by the government’s low approval ratings but also by a fragmented electorate.
Although Jeannette Jara received the most votes in the first round with 26.9%, her lack of alliances beyond the left makes it difficult for her to expand her support. Kast, who secured 23.9%, has already brought key figures on board: ultralibertarian Johannes Kaiser (13.9%) and traditional right-wing leader Evelyn Matthei (12.4%), both now backing his candidacy.
Analysts note that although Kast’s support base consolidates more than 50% of the electorate, it does not guarantee an automatic transfer of votes. Populist economist Franco Parisi, who placed third with 19.7%, emerges as the major wildcard. His party, the People’s Party (PDG), is set to decide this Sunday through an internal consultation whether to endorse one of the two finalists.
International
Trump says asylum decision freeze will remain in place “for a long time”
U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that the suspension of decisions on asylum applications—implemented as part of his order to “halt” immigration from third-world countries following Wednesday’s shooting in Washington—will remain in effect “for a long time.”
The president declined to specify how long the freeze, imposed last Friday by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), would last. The suspension affects individuals waiting for an asylum ruling from that agency, though it does not apply to cases handled by U.S. immigration courts.
The delay is part of a series of measures enacted by the Trump Administration after a shooting on Wednesday in which an Afghan national allegedly opened fire on the National Guard in Washington, D.C., killing one officer and leaving another in critical condition.
Trump has ordered a permanent halt to immigration from 19 countries classified as “third-world.” He also indicated on Sunday that “possibly” more nations could be added to the list.
“These are countries with high crime rates. They are countries that do not function well… that are not known for success, and frankly, we don’t need people from those places coming into our country and telling us what to do,” Trump said, adding: “We don’t want those people.”
USCIS had already announced on Thursday a “rigorous review” of green cards held by migrants from 19 “countries of concern,” including Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela, and Haiti.
International
Sri Lanka and Indonesia deploy military as deadly asian floods kill over 1,000
Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel on Monday to assist victims of the devastating floods that have killed more than a thousand people across Asia in recent days.
A series of weather events last week triggered prolonged torrential rains across Sri Lanka, parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra island, southern Thailand, and northern Malaysia. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said Monday in North Sumatra that “the priority now is to deliver the necessary aid as quickly as possible.”
“There are several isolated villages that, with God’s help, we will be able to reach,” he added. Subianto also stated that the government had deployed helicopters and aircraft to support relief operations.
Floods and landslides have claimed 502 lives in Indonesia, with a similar number still missing.
This marks the highest death toll from a natural disaster in Indonesia since 2018, when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 2,000 people.
The government has sent three military ships carrying aid and two hospital vessels to the hardest-hit regions, where many roads remain impassable.
In the village of Sungai Nyalo, located about 100 kilometers from Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, floodwaters had receded by Sunday, leaving homes, vehicles, and crops coated in thick mud.
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