Xiomara Castro has claimed victory in Honduras’ presidential election — removing the conservative National Party from the seat of power for the first time in 12 years and making her the nation’s first female leader. Castro is the wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a 2009 coup.
The election results come as a relief to Hondurans who feared a contested election after the 2017 elections led to accusations of vote fixing and corruption, followed by demonstrations that left 23 people dead.
President-elect Castro tweeted out last night, “I am not going to fail you.” But she has her work cut out for her in a country devastated by natural disasters, unemployment, street gangs, corruption and mass migration.
Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd talks to reporter Jeff Ernst is in Tegucigalpa.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
