With the arrival of Xiomara Castro to the Presidency of Honduras, more than a century of traditional bipartisanship is broken, during which the conservative National and Liberal parties governed. Now the question arises as to whether her mandate will be a reflection of what her husband, Manuel Zelaya, did, or whether new winds will come to the Central American country.
Castro will take office on Thursday strengthened by the overwhelming victory he obtained in the November 2021 elections, although weak in Parliament, where on the 21st his Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre, left), split due to disagreements in the election of the provisional board of directors of the Legislative power.
The new president of Honduras, wife of former president Manuel Zelaya, who was overthrown on June 28, 2009, in addition, is not only the first woman to reach the country’s first magistracy, but also made it possible for the left to preside over the Executive for the first time with the flag of Libre, founded in 2011.
A HOPE FOR HONDURAN PEOPLE
Castro’s arrival in power has created many expectations and hopes among Hondurans, who since their country returned to constitutional order in 1980, have seen ten governments pass, five from the Liberal Party and five from the National Party, which were not the solution to the many problems of the country.
In November, Castro received popular support that no other presidential candidate has achieved in the political history of Honduras, including her husband, who was overthrown in 2009 when he promoted political reforms that the law did not allow him, with which, according to various sectors, he intended prolong their term in power.
Due to her speech and promises, Castro would have a different mandate than her husband, although the president will have the challenge of finding solutions to the serious problems that the country has, such as poverty that affects 70% of its 9.5 million inhabitants. , more than a million unemployed, poor education and health systems, criminal violence, corruption and drug trafficking, among others.
Castro attributes the current situation in Honduras to "the dictatorship of twelve years of fraud of the National Party"the last eight led by Juan Orlando Hernández.
The president has promised a transparent government and curb corruption (which also affected her husband’s administration), violence and drug trafficking that tainted the National Party governments led by Porfirio Lobo and Hernández (2010-2022).
He has also promised to improve poor health and education systems, and reduce poverty, in which not enough has been done since the arrival of democracy.
40 YEARS OF "Pyrrhic Achievements"
The director of the Caritas ministry, of the Catholic Church, German Cálix, told Efe that in the last four decades there have been ups and downs, with positive things that have helped and created conditions for a formal democracy to be maintained.
"It was a certain achievement, the elections were refined in a certain way, although in the end one realizes that the essence of the fraud has been within the electoral processes themselves"he added.
In addition, Cálix pointed out that in the last 40 years, instances have been created, such as the Public Ministry, among others, "that are necessary, but that were not enough to reverse the maelstrom of corruption that the country was carrying".
The democratic openings were good and necessary, as to create a better and bigger institutionality, but they were cut by "politicians or drug traffickers"he underlined.
"So, one can say that we have had 40 years of pyrrhic achievements in the country, but that the great desire of Hondurans is to have democratic stability, with strong institutions, with a solid State."stressed the head of Caritas.
But that has not been achieved in the last four decades, said Cálix, because the same politicians have been responsible for weakening the State and its institutions such as the National Congress, the Supreme Court of Justice, including the Armed Forces, which were corrupted.
"The same politicians made sure that we did not grow as a democracy, but on the contrary, that we remained stagnant for a long time"Calix stressed.
In addition, the stagnation that Honduras has suffered has led "to three great hard breaks: the coup against Manuel Zelaya in 2009, the great fraud in the 2017 elections and now -the division in Libre- despite clean elections"in 2021.
In the opinion of the director of Caritas, Honduran politicians "they are of short stature, they have not given the measure with the democracy that Honduras wants, with which the people are dreaming and hoping".
"We have a political class that does not respond to that desire for political democracy to become social and economic, an elite that has considered that it owns the State, that believed that the State was its playground and could do and undo with it at all times."narrowed down
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