{"id":13941,"date":"2025-12-01T12:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941"},"modified":"2025-12-01T12:20:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:20:15","slug":"honduras-votes-in-close-election-after-trump-wades-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941","title":{"rendered":"Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13942\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Voters lined up on Saturday in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.\u00a9\u00a0Jose Cabezas\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras\u2014Hondurans cast ballots in a presidential election that was thrown into disarray in its final days after President Trump endorsed one candidate and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/trump-to-pardon-former-honduran-president-serving-45-year-drug-trafficking-sentence-4727e5a6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">promised to pardon<\/a>\u00a0a former Honduran president serving a prison sentence in the U.S. for turning the Central American nation into a narco-state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The election was expected to be close even before Trump\u2019s actions injected more uncertainty into the process. Long lines formed around some polling stations on Sunday. Aside from a new president, more than six million voters will elect 128 legislators and cast ballots for hundreds of other posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the second time in recent months that Trump has inserted himself into national elections across Latin America. In October, Trump conditioned an economic rescue package for Argentina to President&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/topics\/person\/javier-milei\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Javier Milei<\/a>&nbsp;party\u2019s victory in midterm elections. Argentines, fearing an economic implosion, voted overwhelmingly for the country\u2019s ruling party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The outcome isn\u2019t clear in Honduras, an impoverished nation that relies heavily on U.S.-bound migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t like Trump because he has affected thousands of households who depend on remittances due to his mass deportations,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 Antonio Rodr\u00edguez, a pensioner who voted for leftist presidential candidate Rixi Moncada of the ruling Libre party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHonduras has suffered greatly from drug trafficking, and now Trump wants to send us a drug lord,\u201d said the 73-year-old Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most polls put Moncada behind Salvador Nasralla, a 72-year old sports journalist and media personality who briefly served as vice president in the administration of outgoing President Xiomara Castro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump last week urged Hondurans to elect a third candidate, Nasry \u201cTito\u201d Asfura, the candidate of the conservative National party and former mayor of the capital of Tegucigalpa. He associated Moncada with Communists, and said Nasralla\u2019s candidacy would split the anti-Communist vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nasralla told reporters on Sunday he expected Trump\u2019s comments to boost Moncada and her Libre party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere and has long been plagued by endemic corruption, gang violence and unemployment. In recent years, undocumented Hondurans have been at the forefront of the U.S.-bound migration wave from Central America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hondurans working in the U.S. have sent some $10 billion in remittances so far this year, more than the whole of 2024, according to government data. The Trump administration has deported close to 30,000 Hondurans in 2025, on track to double the number of deportations in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Trump on Wednesday endorsed Asfura, he conditioned U.S. aid to Asfura winning the poll. Asfura has a reputation as a can-do executive who built roads and bridges during his time as mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf he doesn\u2019t win, the United States will not be throwing good money,\u201d Trump said. \u201cTito and I can work together to fight the narco-communists and provide the necessary aid to the Honduran people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then on Friday, Trump announced plans to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez, who was convicted by a New York jury and sentenced to 45 years in prison. U.S. prosecutors said that he helped smuggle 400 tons of cocaine to the U.S. and turned Honduras into a narco-state where Hern\u00e1ndez and other members of his National party protected drug shipments in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes, much of which went to tighten the party\u2019s hold on power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump also said that he wanted to stop Venezuela\u2019s authoritarian leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro from extending his influence in the region, posting that Maduro and his \u201cnarcoterrorists\u201d would \u201ctake over another country\u201d if ruling party candidate Moncada wins the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf Asfura wins, Trump will help us,\u201d said Denis Hern\u00e1ndez, a businessman in San Pedro Sula, the country\u2019s business hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s proposed pardon made little sense to some Hondurans, since he was convicted of the same sort of accusations Trump has made against Maduro. In 2020, U.S. prosecutors charged Maduro with turning Venezuela into a narco-state. Maduro denies the accusations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHondurans don\u2019t want to suffer again a wave of drug violence that in the past decade left more than 60,000 dead,\u201d said F\u00e9lix Bueno, a businessman who planned to vote for Moncada of the ruling party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump\u2019s promise of a pardon to former President Hern\u00e1ndez risks causing a broader backlash, hurting the chances of the two conservative candidates, observers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Election authorities have said they would issue preliminary election results Sunday night. But candidates could challenge the vote count unless there is an indisputable landslide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2017, Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s thin re-election win sparked weeks of protests amid fraud accusations, leaving at least 17 people dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras\u2014Hondurans cast ballots in a presidential election that was thrown into disarray in its final days after President Trump endorsed one candidate and\u00a0promised to pardon\u00a0a former Honduran president serving a prison sentence in the U.S. for turning the Central American nation into a narco-state. The election was expected to be close even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":13942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2013,839,1843],"class_list":["post-13941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-after","tag-election","tag-honduras"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras\u2014Hondurans cast ballots in a presidential election that was thrown into disarray in its final days after President Trump endorsed one candidate and\u00a0promised to pardon\u00a0a former Honduran president serving a prison sentence in the U.S. for turning the Central American nation into a narco-state. The election was expected to be close even [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T04:20:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T04:20:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sddm0805\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\",\"name\":\"LISTEN WORLD\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":512},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941\",\"name\":\"Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In - LISTEN WORLD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T04:20:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-01T04:20:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/401cf16edf5abe8109bc4f81d40e2298\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9875\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/401cf16edf5abe8109bc4f81d40e2298\",\"name\":\"sddm0805\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b923aee309f3523e57a0208042f74bc6f6899d4ce27b86964e2e49bf87805ff1?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b923aee309f3523e57a0208042f74bc6f6899d4ce27b86964e2e49bf87805ff1?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"sddm0805\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?author=11\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In - LISTEN WORLD","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In - LISTEN WORLD","og_description":"SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras\u2014Hondurans cast ballots in a presidential election that was thrown into disarray in its final days after President Trump endorsed one candidate and\u00a0promised to pardon\u00a0a former Honduran president serving a prison sentence in the U.S. for turning the Central American nation into a narco-state. The election was expected to be close even [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941","og_site_name":"LISTEN WORLD","article_published_time":"2025-12-01T04:20:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-01T04:20:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"sddm0805","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/","name":"LISTEN WORLD","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1-4.jpg","width":768,"height":512},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#webpage","url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941","name":"Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In - LISTEN WORLD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2025-12-01T04:20:11+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-01T04:20:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/401cf16edf5abe8109bc4f81d40e2298"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=13941#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u9996\u9875","item":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Honduras Votes in Close Election After Trump Wades In"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/401cf16edf5abe8109bc4f81d40e2298","name":"sddm0805","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b923aee309f3523e57a0208042f74bc6f6899d4ce27b86964e2e49bf87805ff1?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b923aee309f3523e57a0208042f74bc6f6899d4ce27b86964e2e49bf87805ff1?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","caption":"sddm0805"},"url":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?author=11"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13943,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13941\/revisions\/13943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}