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
Erin brings strong winds and storm surge despite weakening offshore
Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 2 storm on Tuesday but continues to pose a threat to parts of the U.S. East Coast with potentially dangerous flooding, according to meteorologists.
Although the hurricane’s eye is expected to remain offshore, experts are concerned about Erin’s size, as strong winds extend hundreds of kilometers beyond the storm’s center.
In its 18:00 GMT bulletin, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) lifted tropical storm warnings for the Bahamasand Turks and Caicos Islands, but kept them in effect for parts of North Carolina.
Erin was located several hundred kilometers southeast of North Carolina and was moving northwestward.
“This means there is a risk of potentially life-threatening flooding of 60 to 120 centimeters above ground level,” said NHC Director Michael Brennan.
He also warned of the possibility of destructive waves, combined with storm surge, that could cause severe damage to beaches and coastal areas, making roads impassable.
International
Three U.S. Warships deploy near Venezuela to combat drug trafficking
Three U.S. naval vessels are moving toward the coasts of Venezuela, according to international media reports on Tuesday, after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump is ready to combat and curb international drug trafficking.
Reports indicate that the ships will reach Venezuelan waters within the next 36 hours as part of a recent U.S. deployment aimed at countering international narcotics operations.
The announcement coincides with Leavitt’s statement that Trump is prepared to “use the full extent of his power” to halt drug flows into the United States. The naval deployment involves approximately 4,000 military personnel.
“The President has been clear and consistent. He is ready to use every element of U.S. power to prevent drugs from flooding our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela—it is a narco-terror cartel,” the spokesperson said during a press conference.
International
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
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