They celebrate the victory of Xiomara Castro in Honduras 5:27
(CNN Spanish) --
On November 28, 2021, Honduras held presidential elections in the context of a harsh economic situation, fueled by covid-19, persistent problems of violence and migration, and the still present shadow of the 2009 overthrow of the then president. Manuel Zelaya.
With an electoral participation of 68.58%, the candidate Xiomara Castro, Zelaya's wife and leader of the Libertad y Refundación (Libre) Party, prevailed with 51.12% of the votes against Nasry Asfura, of the ruling National Party, which achieved 36.93%.
The first woman to hold office in the country, Castro will be sworn in as president on January 27, thus succeeding current president Juan Orlando Hernández, elected in 2017 after a tight result.
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The left returns to Honduras
But who is Xiomara Castro?
The newly elected president of Honduras was born on September 30, 1959 in Tegucigalpa and is 62 years old, according to biographical data communicated by her party.
Political tension in Honduras, days after Castro's swearing in 4:51
She has a degree in Business Administration, and in the years prior to entering politics she had dedicated herself to managing her family's businesses in the timber, agricultural and livestock sectors.
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In 1976 he married Zelaya, the future president of Honduras, with whom he later had four children.
She began her political career working in the campaigns of Zelaya — who became president in 2006 — and in the women's movement of the Liberal Party, in which her husband was a member.
Zelaya was overthrown on June 28, 2009 and sent into exile.
The decision earned the country a suspension from the Organization of American States (OAS).
The former president would return to the country in 2011 without fear of being arrested, after reaching an agreement with then-president Porfirio Lobo.
Subsequently, Honduras returned to the OAS.
From the coup against Zelaya to Castro's candidacy
As soon as the overthrow occurred, Castro led a demonstration in Tegucigalpa on July 6, 2009, as reported by the Cidob study center.
Then the figure of the former first lady began to grow within the framework of the new Partido Libertad y Refundación (Libre), which she helped found in 2011, two years after the coup against Zelaya.
They celebrate the victory of Xiomara Castro in Honduras 5:27
In the presidential elections of 2013, she was the candidate of Libre and achieved second place, behind Juan Orlando Hernández, who thus acceded to his first presidency.
Political tension prior to the inauguration of Xiomara Castro as the new president of Honduras
Castro did not participate as a presidential candidate in the 2017 elections, in which Hernández was re-elected.
Instead, his Freedom and Refoundation Party was part of the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, whose candidate, who won second place, was Salvador Nasralla.
She was, however, a candidate for Nasralla's presidential appointee, a position similar to a vice presidency.
In March 2021, she won the internal elections of her party, and later competed in the general elections, also winning the presidency of Honduras, accompanied on the list by the presidential appointee Doris Gutiérrez.
A crowd gathered in the streets of Tegucigalpa to celebrate Castro's victory in the elections.
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, current vice president and former president of Argentina, was one of the first to congratulate Castro.
"Finally, my dear companion and friend Xiomara, sooner or later, the people and history always do justice," Fernández de Kirchner said in a tweet.
Castro responded on the same social network: "Thank you very much, President Cristina Kirchner."
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was president of Argentina in 2009 - when Zelaya was overthrown - and supported the deposed Honduran president and his wife.
Meanwhile, it was learned that the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, will lead her country's delegation in Honduras that will attend the inauguration of President-elect Xiomara Castro on January 27, the White House reported.
"The Vice President's visit will further the commitment she and President-elect Castro made during their December 10 phone call to deepen the partnership between the United States and Honduras and work together to promote economic growth, combat corruption and address the root causes of corruption." migration," Sabrina Singh, assistant press secretary for Harris, said in a statement.
Xiomara Castro
