The leftist leader promised changes for a country marked by the scourge of poverty, corruption and drug trafficking, based on an anti-neoliberal “democratic socialism.” The fulfillment of her proposals marks the state of popular opinion of Hondurans. Of her promises made, some have been fulfilled and others do not prosper.
The administration of Xiomara Castro advances at an ant’s pace. The first woman president of Honduras received a “narco-state”, according to a US court, poor and corrupt that presents itself with these stigmas before the international community.
On this “rotten” basis, according to the director of the Social Forum on Foreign Debt and Development of Honduras (Fosdeh), Ismael Zepeda, Xiomara Castro must fulfill the promises made in her inauguration speech. A task that has not been easy for her.
According to Zepeda, “there was an exacerbated hope (in the population) due to the fact that the campaign promises were very high. However, Pablo Carías, a Honduran sociologist, assures that “Xiomara arrives with oxygen for the continuity of its original proposal.”
In this sense, the president has managed to deal with several local problems derived from international issues, such as the rise in oil prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That did not prevent the protest of various transport unions and other sectors demanding different solutions, but this does not mean that her popularity has dropped.
For another sociologist, Allan Fajardo, from the National University of Honduras, only “the foundations for the fulfillment” of better living conditions are being laid.
Some promises kept despite the context
Upon fulfilling this symbolic date, several Honduran media examine the fulfillment of his word.
Although it is not easy for him, his nationals will always demand more. Such is the case of José Salvador Matute, a young 25-year-old security guard. “In these hundred days nothing has been seen, as it is worse (the situation),” Matute stressed. “Of everything she promised, she has not fulfilled anything, everything is more expensive,” he concluded.
The truth is that despite the complex context that Xiomara Castro faces, she has managed to make some progress. On January 27, in her inaugural speech, Castro listed 21 proposals, of which she has completed eight, according to the local press.
Among some of those accomplished are free energy for the poor. Honduras has a million families in this condition that consume less than 150 kW per month. This measure was approved on February 2.
The same day the fuel subsidy was approved, another of the issues addressed. The president sent a bill to the National Congress that was approved, lowering 10 lempiras (legal tender in the country) to gasoline. The conflict in Ukraine had not yet broken out, which caused the world price of fuel to rise.
The reform of the Budget of the Republic is another of its achievements, as well as the declaration of Honduras as “free of open pit mining”.
Unfulfilled, ambiguous or developing promises
But not all of them have been fulfilled or they simply have not advanced.
The reduction of bank interests, agroforestry development, tourism and the definition of its foreign policy have not yet clarified the panorama.
Another of the two promises that are under development is the achievement of food sovereignty, betting on a project with the World Bank, as well as the protection of the environment in collaboration with the Armed Forces.
The popular referendum on the constitutional reforms is not on the horizon at the moment, which depended on the expansion of the budget of the National Electoral Council, an aspect that has already been completed.
The “Digital Government”, the stagnation of the case of environmentalist leader Berta Cáceres, the return to face-to-face classes in its entirety and care for the elderly, children and youth, indigenous peoples and LGTBI are also issues that are expected to take course over time.
Women and their rights as a pending task
Civil society organizations, especially feminists, ask the head of state for a “Comprehensive Law” to combat femicide.
According to the Gender Equality Observatory of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), during 2020, the Central American country had the highest rate of these events on the continent, with 4.7 per 100,000 women.
As for abortion, in Honduras it is prohibited in all its extremes. The reform made to the Constitution, approved in 2021 by a Congress with a conservative majority, declared its impediment and nullified any legal reform on the subject. To change that norm, the favorable vote of 96 of the 128 legislators is required.
As for members of the LGBTI community, former President Juan Orlando Hernández referred to LGBTI people in his country as “enemies of independence” who attacked “Christian principles.” According to the National Human Rights Commissioner of Honduras, between 2009 and 2020 there were 373 violent deaths of the LGBTI population in the country.
Fight against corruption and drug trafficking
Experts believe that extraditions will continue during Castro’s administration. And that the current government shows signs of fighting corruption.
The first of these was to repeal the law of the Employment and Economic Development Zones (ZEDE), approved in 2013, which received a strong rejection by allowing autonomous territories within Honduras, violating stony articles of the Constitution.
Civil society considered that these territories could be used by drug traffickers to evade justice.
“Honduras has been damaged in its institutional reputation, internationally and internally, by a former president, for having been involved in drug trafficking.” “We believe that the Government should generate a public policy (against drug trafficking), which we have not seen in these hundred days “, pointed out the director of the NGO Association for a Fairer Society (ASJ), Kenneth Madrid.
Security Minister Ramón Sabillón told the international media that there is a “comprehensive proposal” to combat the cartels.
Another light at the bottom of the tunnel is the promise made by Xiomara Castro of the creation of the International Commission Against Corruption and Impunity (CICIH), sponsored by the UN and that in this month of May a United Nations mission must reach the country to promote its implementation. Its fundamental objective would be the investigation of corruption cases in the past and present administration.
Xiomara Castro is a member of the ‘Libre’ Party (Liberty and Refoundation Party) and is the wife of the head of this political group, former President Manuel Zelaya, overthrown by a coup in 2009 that put Porfirio Lobo in power and later resulting in in the election of Juan Orlando Hernández, amid allegations of fraud and strong corruption scandals.
Hernández was recently extradited to the United States. The former president is allegedly accused of drug trafficking. Along with him, his brother, ‘Tony’ Hernández, is serving a life sentence on US soil for the same crime.
With AFP and local media.
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