'She's the only option': Hondurans hope Xiomara Castro can lead the nation in a new direction
Candidate would be the country’s first female president who vows to stop the violence and corruption causing many to flee
Jeff Ernst in Tegucigalpa
Wed 24 Nov 2021 06.00 EST
Aweek ahead of what may be Honduras’s most consequential election since the country’s return to democracy in 1982, the leading opposition candidate for president delivered her final address to an audience of fervent supporters.
“Today we are united as an opposition to say enough! Enough of so much theft, corruption and drug trafficking,” said Xiomara Castro, 62, as she addressed the crowd in Tegucigalpa on Sunday. “Enough suffering for the Honduran people.”
There has been plenty of suffering.
In the four years since the last election was marred by allegations of fraud, Honduras has been battered by two major hurricanes and mauled by the pandemic. Human rights groups have catalogued a litany of abuses including a clampdown on protests and targeted attacks against journalists, human rights activists and environmental defenders.
Meanwhile the ruling National party of President Juan Orlando Hernández have played starring roles in a string of drug trafficking and corruption allegations.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/24/honduras-presidential-election-xiomara-castro-nasry-asfura