In the midst of a fervent crowd that filled the stands of the National Stadium in Tegucigalpa, with the surrounding streets filled with followers of the Partido Libre and its allies, Xiomara Castro gave her first speech as president.
He did this in the midst of a political crisis marked by the rebellion of a sector of the bench of his own party in the National Congress, moved by the entourage of the now ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández, to postpone the expected offensives against him for corruption and alleged relationship with the drug trafficking.
The new president did not say anything unexpected, as everything had been previously announced in the plan for the first 100 days of government and in party documents.
The representative indicated that after 12 years of governments that disposed of public money without rendering accounts, it receives a bankrupt State. “We must root out the corruption of the 12 years of dictatorship, we have the right to refound ourselves on sovereign values, not on usurpation and usurpation”, she pointed out.
The economic catastrophe her government received, she pointed out, has no precedent in the history of Honduras.
With an increase of 700% in the external debt and a growth in poverty of 74% of the population, Honduras has become “the poorest country in Latin America”. These conditions, according to Xiomara, are the causes of massive irregular emigration.
Therefore, the president announced that more than 1 million families that consume less than 150 kilowatts per month will not pay their electricity bill.
This consumption will be applied to the bills of high consumers, for which it will be necessary to make changes to the internal regulation law of the National Electric Energy Company (ENEE).
Among other announcements, Xiomara noted the submission of a project to the National Congress to subsidize fuels and reduce their current prices and ordered the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance to create legal mechanisms to reduce banking interests for national production.
In addition, the Ministry of Education must restore free enrollment and ensure school meals, the vaccination calendar and the supply of masks for the resumption of face-to-face classes.
Among the main efforts of her administration, she added, will be agricultural development to achieve food sovereignty, for which she will seek to renegotiate the provisions of the Free Trade Agreement between Central America and the United States (CAFTA).
He also indicated that the Armed Forces will work to protect the environment.
On mining, one of the most contentious issues in the country, he promised “no more licenses to open mines or exploitation of our minerals, no more concessions in the exploitation of our rivers, watersheds, national parks and cloud forests”.
His administration will pay special attention to agroforestry and industrial development, the promotion of tourism and the establishment of a strict monetary fiscal policy.
The crowd exploded when the president called for the release of political prisoners in Guapinol and the prosecution of those responsible for the murder of Berta Cáceres. In these two cases, her administration will have to face powerful interests, accustomed to exercising their will.
For this reason, he said that constitutional reforms “illegal, with Executive Power contracts endorsed by the National Congress that violate popular sovereignty, such as the Zedes” as the Employment and Economic Development Zones, promoted by the previous government, must be dismantled immediately. and that could become a refuge for former officials persecuted by the justice system.
The new president indicated that she must sanction a law condemning the coup d’état “which destroyed the constitutional thread, in addition to the Law on Condemnation of the Sentence of Reelection, which is a crime of treason to the country, as well as the Law of Amnesty for prisoners politicians”.
She also referred to the elimination of laws aimed at destroying social protection and criminalizing protests. In this context, he indicated that this year the first popular consultation on constitutional reforms should be held.
Another relevant theme of his speech was the installation of a national and international commission to fight corruption and impunity, with the support of the United Nations, similar to that of Guatemala in the past.
A controversial amnesty law
A few days after the inaugural speech, it became evident that the president will face enormous challenges to carry out these proposals.
Congress quickly passed an Amnesty Act for political prisoners, exiles and others persecuted for their activities against the wrongdoings of past nationalist governments.
However, an article that is not clear enough could include in the amnesty those who committed acts of corruption. For this reason, different sectors of civil society have already criticized what they consider a “pact of impunity”.
Following the complaints, including those from second presidential candidate Doris Gutierrez, advocates of the law immediately indicated that cases of corruption or other related offenses will not be included.
The Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (Cofadeh) will be the entity in charge of evaluating the cases.
This has also led to complaints, as the work is assigned to a single body, when in the country there are many sectors that fight in favor of human rights and are not taken into account.
At the same time and to the anguish of Cachurecos, as nationalists are known, especially those closest to the exit regime, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menéndez, recently sent a letter to his country’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, to have the White House revoke Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH)’s visa and classify him as a “foreign narcotics trafficker.”
A few days ago, the US revoked JOH’s visa, and the State Department described him as “corrupt and a drug trafficker”, while Congresswoman Norma Torres predicted an early extradition request for the former president.
These decisions will harden the actions of the former Honduran president’s entourage to prevent a united Congress or an unfair Supreme Court, to whom until now was his “master and master”, from giving in to possible pressure from the North and leaving JOH exposed to the American Justice.
