[News] Historic turnout in Honduran elections ousts US-backed ruling party

[Anti-Imperialist News]

/Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser 
<https://default.salsalabs.org/T764c1fe6-a195-4b2f-9851-11dc2cce621c/17901e53-a68f-4875-b0f6-ccb7af22767e>/ 


*Euphoria has reigned in the streets of Honduras since Sunday night, 
when it became clear that massive turnout of voters propelled the 
opposition candidate, Xiomara Castro, to the presidency. *

12 years after the National Party took power in the 2009 military coup, 
Hondurans resoundingly rejected them at the ballot box. Historic turnout 
overcame the ruling party's vote buying and attempts to cling to power. 
*With over half of the votes counted, Xiomara Castro led the ruling 
party candidate by nearly 20 points, with 53% of the vote. *

Castro is slated to become Honduras' first female President. She was 
presidential candidate of an opposition alliance that brought together 
her leftist party, LIBRE, as well as center and right parties and those 
who had grown weary of the ruling party's widespread corruption. The 
election was a referendum on outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez, 
whose eight years in power have been marked by brutal state repression, 
militarization, massive corruption, and state-backed drug trafficking. 
In 2017, a 5 point margin of victory for the opposition with over half 
the vote counted mysteriously evaporated during 'technical failures' and 
Hernandez used fraud, lethal military repression of demonstrators, and 
US support to retain power.

*This time, however, the Honduran people turned out in historic numbers* 
- *with 68% of the population voting - and the 20 point margin of 
victory with over half of the vote counted led to massive celebrations 
around the country starting Sunday night. *On Tuesday, the ruling party 
candidate finally conceded. **

In her victory speech, Castro spoke of the past 12 years of resistance 
by the Honduran people and lifted up the memory of the numerous martyrs 
who lost their lives opposing the coup and subsequent regimes. She also 
emphasized her plan to build a government of unity and reconciliation. 
As President, she will face huge challenges. Since the U.S.-backed coup, 
there has been a massive looting of Honduras, with the violent 
implementation of extreme right-wing neoliberal policies that have 
plundered both public institutions and natural resources. This has 
resulted in massive poverty, displacement, migration, and the 
criminalization and murders of those who have defended nature and human 
rights. The damage that was done will not be fixed overnight, but will 
take sustained organizing. As Bertha Zuniga, General Coordinator of 
COPINH, wrote 
<https://default.salsalabs.org/T9cbacb57-d589-4da8-a486-20c33bfbc179/17901e53-a68f-4875-b0f6-ccb7af22767e> 
on Twitter on Sunday night, ''Now we must rebuild our Honduras so that 
never again are people murdered or jailed for defending nature and the 
rights of Indigenous peoples. The Struggle Continues.''

*As Hondurans embark on the struggle to rebuild, the U.S. must not 
interfere.* We know too well that the U.S. bears significant 
responsibility for the destruction of Honduras over the past 12 years 
(and over the past century). *We will not forget that it was U.S. 
recognition of Hernandez as President that enabled him to stay in power 
despite massive fraud in the 2017 elections. *We will not forget the 
U.S. training, financing, and equipping of the military and police 
forces that shot and killed demonstrators in the streets. We will not 
forget the U.S. financing of the Hernandez regime in the name of 
fighting the drug war even as his brother was prosecuted by the U.S. for 
drug trafficking. We will not forget the U.S. training of those who 
carried out the 2009 coup at the School of the Americas. In the days 
ahead, as the votes continue to come in and Hondurans continue 
organizing, challenging extremely violent and entrenched powerful 
forces, we must remain vigilant against U.S. interference and demand 
respect for the will of the Honduran population.

While the road ahead is paved with challenges, at this moment *we lift 
up the clear mandate of the Honduran people and what that represents 
after the past 12 years of repression and bloodshed. *Congratulations, 
Honduras!

SOA Watch


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20211201/fc52be68/attachment.htm>