Democracy 'lost': Rights groups warn of more violence in Honduras as US recognizes president
Source: ABC News
By KAELYN FORDE
CONOR FINNEGAN
Dec 22, 2017, 4:06 PM ET
The U.S. became one of a few countries to recognize Juan Orlando Hernandez as the president of Honduras Friday as the opposition candidate, international observers, members of Congress and human rights groups called for a new election amid reports of fraud. Thirty people have died in election-related violence since the Nov. 26 vote, in which both major candidates claimed victory, according to human rights groups.
The U.S. recognition comes after Honduras national electoral tribunal, known as the TSE, declared Hernandez the victor on Sunday, kicking off a five-day period during which the opposition can present evidence of fraud or irregularities that would nullify the result. The TSE's official results show Hernandez winning with 42.95 percent of the vote, compared to challenger Salvador Nasralla's 41.42 percent.
We have not seen anything that alters the final result that the TSE has come out with, a senior U.S. State Department official told reporters Wednesday, indicating initial U.S. support for Hernandez at the time.
. . .
However, the U.S. conceded that there were irregularities identified by the OAS [Organization of American States] and the EU [European Union] election observation missions and called for robust national dialogue and a significant long-term effort to heal the political divide in the country and enact much-needed electoral reforms, said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/democracy-lost-rights-groups-warn-violence-honduras-us/story?id=51954034
Initech
(100,063 posts)Irish_Dem
(46,924 posts)have the upper hand right now.
Ligyron
(7,627 posts)Naw, it'll get certified someday.
roomtomove
(217 posts)I do recall Hillary supporting a Honduran coup a few years ago.....
Judi Lynn
(160,523 posts)DECEMBER 22, 2017
Poor, Abused Honduras; Groped Again
by JOHN GRANT
Mr. Hernández and his allies control the much-protested ballot-counting process, the election oversight commission, the army which under Honduran law moves the ballots and all appeals processes.
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, (D) Illinois
Poor Honduras.
The word honduras means depth or profundity in Spanish. Its also the name of one of the most abused nations in the Western Hemisphere. Its citizens are largely poor and overwhelmed by a state of corruption historically linked with the much more sophisticated and wealthy network of corruption that overwhelms the citizenry of the United States. The November 26 election for president of Honduras was the latest chapter in this sad historic reality.
Honduras is now embroiled in street protests following an election count that stinks like three-day old fish in the sun. President Juan Orlando Hernandez was running for a second term, despite an apparently un-amendable Constitutional provision that precludes a second term. Former sportscaster and TV game-show host Salvador Nasralla ran against Hernandez, who was favored to win. The Organization of American States says the election count was seriously flawed and its pushing for a new vote. Heres how the count went: The day after the election, it was announced Nasralla led the vote count by five percentage points, which suggested a real upset. A third candidate for president conceded Nasralla was the winner. At that point, the election tribunal suddenly stopped communicating with the public. After a hiatus, the next communication was to declare Hernandez the winner by one-and-a-half percentage points. Immediately, the nation erupted in protests that led to fatalities. Knowing how important the United States is to Honduras, Nasralla flew to the US to consult with friends and the OAS. The OAS publicly called for a new election.
The Rex Tillerson State Department responded this way: The United States notes that Honduras Supreme Election Tribunal has declared incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez the winner. The United States notes . . . Such tentative language suggests the Trump administration cant deny the smell of rotten fish in Honduras, so its being coy in its support for Hernandezs spurious re-election count. Based on past actions, Hernandez is said to harbor a strong authoritarian ambition. Many members of the police and army, however, are reportedly reluctant to be harsh with protesters; they seem to know whats going down. How far theyre willing to go is a looming question. If Hernandez cant put down the rioting and make the citizens of Honduras accept his corrupt election, then the US will have no choice but to assume another posture. The State Department said if Mr. Nasralla is unhappy with the count, well, he should submit an appeal. Of course, they know, as Rep. Schakowsky points out above, Hernandez controls the appeal process.
Cut to Gringolandia and our current gender struggle, which is a very 21st century story that may relate to the Honduras story. I look at the Trump ascendancy as a masculinist backlash rooted the white, male heartland of God, guns and big macho trucks. In the same sense, the current wildfire raging against sexual misconduct can be seen as a feminist backlash against the Trump masculinist backlash. As a grotesquely polarized nation of self-indulgent people full of ourselves, weve painted ourselves into a struggle of gender identity backlashes. Sexual misconduct is a vague term that includes the abuse of minors and outright rape, as well as cases of unwelcome bumptious kissing. It ranges from the dead serious to the comical. Every day now, from the mainstream media we get new accounts usually from women, but not always reporting on incidents of sexual misconduct by powerful, celebrity males. (Theres Kevin Spaceys male accuser and a case in Kansas that involves a male charging a woman executive running for Congress with firing him after he refused to have sex with her; she quit the race.) Sexual misconduct is hardly new. What is new, however, is the credibility these accounts are suddenly receiving. So far, the accusatory cycle has not moved very far down the class scale into the working and poor classes, where arguably the most abuse occurs. At that point, it could run head-on into the working class, masculinist backlash among men who see what feminists call sexual misconduct as an honorable manly thing, as in: Hey, males are designed to be assertive; sometimes that assertiveness can be awkward. The Times recently did a large, front-page story on the sexual harassment and abuse received by women over decades at two Ford plants in Chicago. It remains an open question whether the newfound credibility will get traction at the bottom of our free-market, union-busting, money-focused culture.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/22/poor-abused-honduras-groped-again-2/
Judi Lynn
(160,523 posts)2 HOURS AGO
Salvador Nasralla conceded shortly after Honduras' key ally Washington endorsed President Juan Orlando Hernandez's re-election, following a month of sometimes deadly street clashes.
Honduran opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla said his bid for the presidency was a "lost cause" on Friday after the United States recognised President Juan Orlando Hernandez as winner of the election.
"The situation is practically decided," Nasralla said in an interview with TV network France 24. "I no longer have anything to do in politics, but the people, which are 80 percent in my favour, will continue the fight."
The Honduran electoral tribunal declared Hernandez winner of the November 26 election last weekend amid strident opposition protests over the vote count in the impoverished Central American country.
More:
https://www.trtworld.com/americas/honduran-opposition-leader-accepts-defeat-as-us-steps-in-13546