US Interference in the Honduran Elections Leads to Chaos
The US intentionally exploited doubts about electoral integrity in the lead-up to the November 30 presidential elections in Honduras
Many questions surrounding Honduras’ recent elections have created a chaotic environment among voters. While many Hondurans lack trust in electronic voting systems, as most voters do in countries around the world, the United States stoked that distrust through hyperbolic rhetoric in a Congressional subcommittee hearing broadcast into Honduras and outright interference by US President Donald Trump. The International Observation Mission of the American Association of Jurists (AAJ) condemned outside interference by Trump and, specifically, Argentine President Javier Milei.
Hondurans’ concerns were stoked by outside forces who exacerbated tensions with one-sided reporting, such as the Organization of American States (OAS), which has been involved in several coups in Latin America, including Bolivia in 2019. OAS was then cited by Human Rights Watch and other groups, repeating the same biased narratives. All of their statements ignored Hondurans’ calls to stay out of the already contentious electoral process.
“Today, we are accompanying several peasant and indigenous organizations in a march and sit-in in front of the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa. During the sit-in, the organizations opposed the alleged interference by the US government in the electoral process of Honduras,” read a December 4 statement on X from Peace Bridge International - Honduras, an international non-governmental organization (NGO).
Many of the concerns coming from the OAS and other groups came only after a member of the US’s preferred candidates’ team was recorded attempting to rig the election. The OAS statements ignored these allegations of fraud and instead cast more doubt about the integrity of the elections. It was then that Trump got involved in favor of the White House’s chosen candidate and targeted the other two candidates, suggesting it was them who were trying to steal the election.
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However, the party of Trump’s chosen candidate, the National Party, was linked to the 2009 coup and fraud found in both the 2013 and 2017 elections. Both it and the Liberal Party supported the kidnapping of the democratically elected president of Honduras, Mel Zelaya, in the middle of the night, flying him out of the country. The voter intimidation that occurred in many areas is linked to MS-13, the same gang that the White House designated as a terrorist group. The gang was promoting the same candidate as Trump by threatening the public and telling them who to vote for.
The LIBRE party, which is currently in power, is the least likely of the three to attempt to rig an election. However, LIBRE party presidential candidate Rixi Moncada was the target of various US lawmakers and Trump, among others.
“The statements of President Trump threatening the voters of Honduras and trying to coerce them are a violation of Article 19 of the Charter of the Organization of American States, to which the United States is a signatory,” said Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR). “ And the statements of Representative Maria Salazar, from the US Congress, who is a leader of the delegation to the election, are also a violation of the Charter of the Organization of the American States. And they’re more unprecedented for a US official in that they are an attempt to delegitimize a national election before the vote, and also in a volatile political climate where this could cause violence.”
Trump, issuing his own corollary to the Monroe Doctrine on December 2, as Theodore Roosevelt did, seeking to maintain a perceived dominion over Latin America, was accordingly timed. The White House’s intervention in Honduras coincides with its attempts to start a war with Venezuela, provoke Colombia, and destabilize Latin America entirely. As dictated in the standing foreign policy in the Monroe Doctrine, the US will continue to intervene in Latin American countries’ internal affairs by manipulating elections and through violent coups.
Trump’s attempt to interfere in Honduras’ election couldn’t be more obvious, as he suggested that voting for Nasry “Tito” Asfura of the National Party would ensure that Honduras did not face the same destiny as Venezuela. According to Trump, Moncada, whom he refers to as a communist, was that threat, and that Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party was a “borderline communist,” making him an equal threat.
He made these comments on Truth Social two days before the election.
“Will Maduro and his Narcoterrorists take over another country as they have taken over Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela? Tito and I can work together to fight the Narcocommunists. I cannot work with Moncada and the Communists.”
Minutes later, Trump then threatened Hondurans with ending partnerships with the country.
“If Tito Asfura wins for President of Honduras, because the United States has so much confidence in him, his Policies, and what he will do for the Great People of Honduras, we will be very supportive. If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad.”
Knowing that the vote count was marred by delays and inconsistencies, when Nasralla inched ahead of Asfura in a close count, Trump said that it “looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election.”
Reports of polling stations opening late have led to a repeat vote in at least one municipality, San Antonio de Flores. The Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP) had failed several tests before the election, and allegations by two of the parties of votes being changed in the system led the LIBRE party to call for the annulment of the election, a right offered by the Honduran Constitution. The White House is undoubtedly aware of this and has exploited it
The Honduran National Electoral Council (CNE) has extended the deadline for parties to request an administrative annulment or a special recount due to data processing delays and a lack of access to the official CNE system, adding to even more uncertainty about the integrity of the election. Additionally, Moncada alleges that after Trump intervened in favor of Asfura on Truth Social, hundreds of thousands of people received a text message threatening that they would not receive their remittances if they did not vote for Asfura.
All of these elements led Moncada to declare in an exclusive interview that an electoral coup is underway.
“This has been a complete electoral coup. An ongoing electoral coup,” Moncada told TeleSUR TV exclusively. “Three direct messages from the President of the United States of America, practically against me and against my proposal. But with an additional component: releasing former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced by the U.S. justice system to 45 years in prison for trafficking more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, in the context of the general elections to define a new government,” continued Moncada. “It is an ongoing electoral coup.”
When asked if she believed the election had been a power struggle between drug trafficking groups, she said a big part of it was.
“There is drug trafficking funding. We’ve had it in the past, and there’s proof,” Moncada said. “There are entire municipalities that were financed with drug money. The two-party system governed for 12 years and 7 months with the explicit tolerance of the United States, knowing it was a mafia linked to cartels,” continued Moncada. “The very day Xiomara Castro assumed the presidency, the indictment against Juan Orlando Hernández was filed in the U.S. Five years later, he was released.”
The evidence of US meddling in Honduras’ election is undeniable. The influence campaign employed members of Congress, the congressional testimony of a registered foreign agent who was also involved in a coup against Bolivia, and even the President of the United States, speaks to the more than two centuries of US interventionism that have hindered the growth of a region with nearly 700 million people.
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I was in Nicaragua when Zelaya was overthrown in Honduras. The people there call it "SS Honduras," referring to its history as a US military puppet state, especially in providing a base to the Contras. The lead Honduran military officials involved in the overthrow of Zelaya had been trained by the US military at the Fort Benning (the "School of the Assassins"). It was widely assumed that Hilary Clinton (then Sec of State) and AT&T were involved; Zelaya as trying to nationalize cell phone coverage. And there seemed to be a split between Obama and Clinton over Zelaya.
But what the current situation really echoes is the election of Chamorro in Nicaragua. She was the anti-Sandinista candidate. Just before the election, the US ran ads saying they would prohibit all remittances from the US if Ortega won. This seemed to swing the vote. All the meddling was run out of the National Endowment for Democracy, which was then housed under USAID.
The concept to punish the Nicaraguan public for who they vote for was explicitly referenced as a policy ideal by US officials when Gazans elected Hamas in 2006.
Of course it does. Always look forward to reading your posts.