Xiomara Castro’s hundred days “up” to the Honduran government

He became the leader of Honduras a hundred days ago and, although optimism remains about his rule, the leftist Xiomara Castro the image of the country still needs to be cleaned up, tainted by drug trafficking and corruption, and contains poverty -fueled migration.

Castro, 62, wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in 2009, became the country’s first female president in Central America on January 27, described as a “narco-state” in a U.S. court.

His predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernandez, was extradited recently in the United States for drug trafficking, and lined up the former Chief of Police, Juan Carlos Bonilla. “Tony” Hernández, the former president’s brother, is already serving a life sentence there, for the same crime.

For the director of the Social Forum on Foreign Debt and Development of Honduras (Fosdeh), Ismael Zepeda, “This first hundred days are uphill” because “it is difficult to build on the rotten foundation left behind” by the two Hernández governments (2014-2018 and 2018-2022).

Castro ended a hegemony of right -wing parties (Liberal Party and National Party). He accuses the latter of leaving the country in crisis and with a public debt of 17,000 million dollars. He promised structural changes through anti-neoliberal “democratic socialism.”

with “oxygen”

in its early days exempted in weak sectors from paying electricity tariffswhile seeking to renegotiate contracts with generators to lower energy costs.

But job creation is still pending, in a country with 10 million inhabitants, where nearly 74% of households live in poverty. Many see massive irregular migration to the United States as a way to get a job.

When Castro took office, “there was great hope [en la población] kasi campaign commitments are very high “commented Zepeda.

“Xiomara still lasts a hundred days with oxygen for the continuation of its original proposal, “said sociologist Pablo Carías.

But for José Salvador Matute, a 25-year-old security guard in Tegucigalpa, “in this hundred days nothing has been seen, like worse [la situación]. In all he promised has done nothingeverything is more expensive, ”he said.

The promises

Castro had to deal with rising fuel prices as a result ofThe Russia-Ukraine battle. The State is absorbing part of this impact on local prices, although it has not stopped a protest by transportation unions and some beginning demonstrations by teachers or doctors asking for work.

According to Allan Fajardo, a sociologist at the National University of Honduras, “the foundations for the realization” of better living conditions are almost never created.

Although there was no recent vote on his administration, Castro was on Sunday popularity plummeted in celebration of Labor Day.

“Honduras has damaged its institutional reputation, globally and internally, by a former president, for being involved in drug trafficking (…) we believe the government [de Castro] must create a public policy [contra el narcotráfico]that we haven’t seen it in a hundred days ”, commented the director of the non-governmental Association for a More Just Society (ASJ), Kenneth Madrid.

Security Minister Ramón Sabillón recently told AFP that there was a “comprehensive measure” to fight the cartels.

Sociologist Carías considers that extraditions will continue during the Castro administration. And it is showing signs of fighting corruption.

The first of these was the repeal of the Employment and Economic Development Zones (ZEDE) law, approved in 2013, which received widespread rejection by allowing autonomous territories within Honduras, violation of rocky articles of the Constitution.

Civil society considers that these territories may have been used by drug traffickers to evade justice.

“There is also the commitment of the International Commission Against Corruption and Impunity (CICIH, sponsored by the UN) that seems to be on track,” Carías added.

In mid -May, a United Nations mission should arrive in Honduras to advance the creation of the CICIH, which Castro promised during the campaign, for the purpose of investigating corruption cases in past and present governments.

All of these measures are supported by the Biden administration. Vice President Kamala Harris himself was at Castro’s inauguration.

Although the proposal to renegotiate contracts with power generators caused criticism from the US embassy in Tegucigalpa, they were eventually occupied by Washington.

Fajardo believes Castro is on the right track in his relationship with the United States, in terms of core goals. “Stop or reduce drastically irregular migrationand stop or significantly reduce the flow of drugs into Honduran territory ”.

AFP agency

PB