complicatedpoliticsblog posted: " The Central American Nation of Honduras held elections this November 28th. Like elections before it was violent and many people had been killed in politically motivated killings. Since 2009, elections in Honduras have been horrific and plunged th"
The Central American Nation of Honduras held elections this November 28th. Like elections before it was violent and many people had been killed in politically motivated killings.
Since 2009, elections in Honduras have been horrific and plunged the impoverished country deeper into chaos.
An Average day in Honduras
In 2009 there was a military coup in Honduras. The President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya was ousted by the Honduran Army for trying to make changes to the Honduran Constitution.
He was forced onto a plane and flown to exile in Costa Rica. What followed was a wave of political violence and Honduras was polarized over the coup. Those who were against the coup were met with violence and some even killed. The security forces of Honduras used repression on all who protested and spoke out against the coup. Later that year Honduras held elections for a new president, while an unelected president named Roberto Micheletti ruled from June 2009-January 2010.
The elections of 2009 were extremely flawed and dirty. The conservative candidate Pepe Lobo Sosa was found to have his presidential campaign financed by drug money provided by his son Fabio who is a drug trafficker.
Porfirio Lobo Sosa and his son Fabio
Many countries refused to recognize the elections in Honduras. But the US supported the sham elections in Honduras and the Obama Administration embraced Pepe Lobo Sosa.
The violence in Honduras continued getting worse, and by 2011 Honduras was named as having the worst murder rates in the world outside of a war zone. Pepe Sosa later became a huge embarassement to the USA. In 2015 his son Fabio was arrested in Haiti in a DEA drug sting operation. Fabio was put on trial in the United States and pled guilty to his drug trafficking crimes and has been sentenced to 24 years in prison.
Pepe's wife Rosa who was first lady ended up being arrested in Honduras in 2018 for embezzling millions in public finds as 1st Lady and sentenced to 58 years in prison.
In 2021, the US Government ended up blacklisting Pepe Lobo and his entire family and they are now banned from visiting the United States again. Very hypocritical since the US propped up this terrible leader and his family and then disown him.
The elections of 2013, saw the wife of the deposed president from 2009 run for President. Xiomara Castro the wife of Manuel Zelaya ran as the left wing candidate against the conservative candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez. Hernandez won. Honduras continued getting worse.
In 2015, President Juan Orlando Hernandez was able to change to the constitution of Honduras to run for a 2nd term. What is ironic about that, is Manuel Zelaya was overthrown for trying to do that exact same thing.
In 2017, Honduras held elections and they were rife with fraud. The deeply unpopular President Juan Orlando Hernandez cheated in the election to stay in office. Many Hondurans protested demanding a re-count. In response President Hernandez demanded that the Military and Police use lethal force on protests and 23+ people were killed by the security forces of Honduras between November 2017-January 2018. Horrible and tragic. The US Government quickly recognized Juan Orlando Hernandez as President again and refused to condemn his bloody crackdown. The Donald Trump Administration embraced dictator Juan Orlando Hernandez just as Barack Obama had.
This year in 2021, elections in Honduras were violent. Over 20 political candidates were murdered in Honduras in 2021. This November a mayor running for re-election named Francisco Gaitan was shot dead at his home. The majority of the political candidates killed were members of opposition political parties to the Ruling National Party of Honduras, the Conservative Party that has ruled Honduras since 2010 with the full backing of the United States.
The candidates running for President in 2021 were Nasry Asfura the Conservative from the National Party and the current mayor of the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. Asfura was exposed in the Pandora Papers of having embezzled lots of public money as Mayor.
Xiomara Castro the leftist, who had run in 2013 ran again in 2021.
And Yani Rosenthal who is a convicted money launderer and served 3 years in prison in the United States from 2017-2020.
All 3 blatantly bad choices.
Xiomara Castro ended up winning and will become the 1st Woman President of Honduras in their history. Xiomara Castro is a democratic socialist and leftist. It is the 1st time a leftist has won in Honduras since 2005 when her husband became president.
It is unlikely anything will improve in Honduras, which it the 3rd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Many hundreds of Hondurans having been fleeing the country to go to Mexico and the United States to escape poverty, government repression, and horrible crime. Honduras is dealing terribly with the Covid-19 pandemic and was battered by 2 back to back hurricanes in 2020, leaving many Hondurans homeless.
The outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez who enjoyed US support is now facing drug trafficking charges by Federal Prosecutors in the US Justice Department. His younger brother Tony Hernandez was arrested in Miami Florida in 2018 delivering kilos of cocaine in the USA. Tony Hernandez was a Congressman in Honduras since 2014 and was still a congressman when travelling to Miami Florida to bring cocaine. He was put on trial in Federal Court and has been sentenced to life in prison. His brother Juan Orlando Hernandez has been named a co-conspirator in the trial.
Honduras is a narco-state, and most of the Honduras Government, Police, and Military are heavily involved in the cocaine trade. The US has had a military base in Honduras since 1983, and says it trains the Honduras Government to fight drug trafficking. Well that is a joke!
In closing, Honduras is just a constant mess. The United States has not helped in any way and has a horrible legacy since the US Fruit Companies arrived in Central America in the 1890s. The United States has constantly meddled in Central America and supported numerous horrible dictators including in Honduras. These are huge explanations for the migrant problems coming from Central America.
I have no idea if Xiomara Castro will improve anything in Honduras, but the 11 year reign of the Conservative National Party will end, and they were disastrous for the country. In one of the past videos on Youtube I have stressed the importance of helping the Church in Honduras. Christians in Honduras who speak out in truth, spread the Gospel, and call for a better Honduras are the solution. Christians in the United States should pray about this. Pray that the US Government ends its horrible policies in Latin America as well. Christians in the United States must stop blind patriotism to bad US Foreign Policy. There is no other way to reduce illegal immigration from Honduras. The situation at the US-Mexican Border is testament to this. Let's pray, let's help the churches in these countries, let's pressure our government until they do something right.
WordPress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment