 Okay. Here we go. Welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean. CodePink's weekly YouTube program of hot news out of the region. In partnership with friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas, we broadcast every Wednesday at 4.30 p.m. Pacific, 7.30 p.m. Eastern on CodePink YouTube Live. Today's episode is Honduras elects a new future. On November 30th, just two days after historic presidential elections, Honduras' conservative ruling party candidate, Nasri Asufra, conceded defeat in the presidential election, paving the way for his Libre party rival, Xiomara Castro, to become the first female leader of the Central American country. With over 52% of the votes tallied by the evening of November 30, Castro had 53.4% support, and Asufra 34.1%. Although the Electoral Council has not published preliminary vote totals for congressional races, early results point to a possible majority for Castro's Libre party and its main allies. Asufra's concession brings to an end a turbulent period under the U.S. supported national party, which has been dogged by scandals and corruption accusations, especially during the two terms of outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez. Hernandez is deeply unpopular and has been implicated in a drug trafficking case in a U.S. federal court. His brother is already in prison, as many of our viewers probably know. He denies wrongdoing but could face an indictment when he leaves office. Castro's victory will see the center left return to power after a 12-year hiatus that followed the ousting of her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, in a U.S. Baku in 2009. Joining me today to discuss the historic presidential elections in Honduras on November 28 is journalist and my friend Alina Duarte. Alina has a Sunday afternoon news hour on Sincensora and is a reporter for Canal 14 here in Mexico City. She is also a journalist with Newestra Red. Alina and I were election observers with César Centro de Estudio para la democracia in Honduras on November 28. She with the Newestra Red contingent and myself with the global exchange team. Welcome, Alina. Well, thanks for having me, Terry. So we saw something quite historic while in Honduras on the 28th of November. And it was really, it was quite, I guess, on many levels a marvelous experience, a marvelous foreign policy experience, a marvelous human rights and economic rights, and a wonderful story for women in leadership. So a lot of levels of success and things to celebrate. So why don't we, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you responded on the 28th and then maybe we can share with our audience what the whole electoral process was like, the technicalities of it, and then what we think is possible for Honduras and perhaps the rest of the Americas in the coming year. Yeah, well, for me, it was amazing being in Honduras. That was my first time in that country. And for me, it was very important being there, especially when we talk here in Mexico all the time about Honduras, but only when it comes about migrants, when we talk about poverty. So for me, it was very, very important also because I thought that this was a fight against imperialism, definitely. And it's impressive that more than a week before, after the elections, we still don't have the final results. With around the 90% of the preceding scouting, Shivana Castro has more than 50%. I think now it's something that I mean, everyone now is like sure that she is the elected president at this point, but it's impressive. But I mean, more than a week after, we still don't have the 100% of the votes counted. And November 28th, it was a date of big tensions due to the antecedents of the 2009 coup on the front of 2017 that left more than 30% who were assassinated. I think those issues were the most important for the people who were really afraid, were scared of just waiting. What could happen that day after the polls were closed? I was in the south of Honduras in a department called Chuluteka. And I think I guess that was like the feeling of all of the population in the whole country. They were expecting for the results. I was impressed by how many people went to the polls. It was more than 67% of the population. That's a high number of people. We are talking about a country of 9 million and a half people where 74 of them are under poverty. And people voted, I mean, more than 67%, it's a lot. They were very tired of a government, as you say, Terry, a government that his brother is now in prison in New York because of narcotraffic, a government that killed several activists and human rights defender under this government. A lot of people have been assassinated. The most important case is that of Bertha Cáceres who was assassinated for defending the territory. And now it's like a national or even a global struggle, the justice for Bertha Cáceres. And now people went to the polls. That was my impression. Just tired of this government, of this situation of poverty, tired of corruption, tired of, they say that Juan Orlando Hernandez is the actual president. It's a narco dictatorship. So that's why I think so many people decided going to the polls. And in this case, voting for the leftist option, I don't, I wouldn't say that this is a socialist or radical option. And it's very difficult to believe that after an alliance with a center, right? So Maracastro will have the capacity to move towards a more progressive agenda. That's one of the risk that we're going to see during the next years. But most of the people believe that this was the best option. And that's why Xomara is going to be the next president of Honduras. Well, you know, it's curious that it's not curious. I think we all know why the Western media has decided to define her presidency as leftist, when in fact, it really is a coalition of center, left of center and center right personalities and parties. And I would argue that that was necessary, the necessarily necessary political strategy to defeat a really heinous government that the Honduran people have suffered since the 2009 Cuban. And it will, it's going to be, it is, it's not going to be without its challenges to govern, to hold the coalition together and govern. But so necessary for the Honduran people, the turnout on the 28th was enormous. And I think, you know, you and I both commented when we were there that it was really a statement of Fueda Hope, as which has been the same for for several years now, but also a statement and preservation of national sovereignty, people wanting their country back and wanting to govern it in with their own definition of politics and economics. And it was a really powerful moment. I was just so our audience knows I was in the department or Euro, which was towards the east, not far from the Atlantic coast. I was based in in the city of El Progreso. Some of some of our audience will know El Progreso as the home of El Radio Progreso. And it's quite large. It was I found it very understated being there. And I think, you know, Alina, you and I commented on this at one point that perhaps there was a reticence among the people given the history, particularly the coup in 2009, but the overturn of elections and while the stealing of them in 2017, people not being quite sure what was really going to happen. And so the huge turnout on Sunday, the 28th was quite something to marvel at. And yet there was some reticence the evening of Sunday, the 28th as well. And of course, now the whole country is, you know, openly celebrating. And it's really a wonderful thing to see. I wonder we should share with our audience what the electoral process is physically like in Honduras. It it did see improvements. And I will say this is just from my personal experience. There definitely were improvements over prior electoral observation delegations. I would say to me personally, it's somewhat of a chaotic voting process where people's hands touch the ballot in a way I personally would be uncomfortable with. And that's there's a lot of hands touching a person's ballot from many different people before it actually gets into the ballot box. Other than that, it seemed to be a process that people had enough confidence in to actually show up and vote in mass on the 28th. And that is probably the largest measuring stick of all electoral processes. Is do people have confidence in it to actually show up and participate? And that to me was definitely present. Yeah, it was it was very hard to understand the whole process. It was very, very low. It was, for example, you and I, we were in Venezuela and it took like a minute or a minute and a half or two minutes just to vote. And in Honduras, it was more than three, even five minutes. First, the people found them in the they found the table where they were going to vote. Then they located on a paper list. Then they entered and they received the ID and they they put their finger and they received the ballots. And then they have to to to sign the ballots and then they have to vote and then they have to come back. And once again, the people in the on the table sign again and put some and how do you say? Say yes, a stamp, so it was it was really, really long after they just the vote. So at the beginning with several people designing going to the to the polls, there were really long, long lines during the morning in the first hour because it was a long process, which I mean, as I said, said around 70 percent of the population voted. And with this long, long process, it was very confusing. And of course, even even the the ballot for electing the congresspeople, it was also very difficult. They had like ten lines of the parties of the of the candidates of each party and they had the opportunity for voting for nine of these congresspersons. So in case they marked ten, it was invalid. And in case they there were there were another like several up, I mean, there was the possibility of making a fraud. In case they only choose six or five, another person could, you know, choose the rest of them. It was pretty, pretty complicated. And I don't think that the that the people in the polls were really conscious about the process. They were very confused. Even the people who were in the tables, they didn't know the whole process. In the morning, they were also very confused. They didn't receive a lot of devastation. They didn't know how to act. It was pretty confusing. I don't know if you agree on that, but it was really long, tired and confused in everything. It was, you know, for me, being in El Progreso, I noticed and I and I would say from experience, this is this is customary throughout Latin America. First and foremost, elections are held on Sunday in the majority of the countries unlike the United States. And I cannot stress the importance of that enough, how that does attract, inspire and promote voter turnout and participation in the United States. We vote on Tuesdays, which is not a federal holiday. And people have to figure out how to take time off work, students in school, parents with child care responsibilities. It's really, you know, you have to do some personal gymnastics in order to vote in the United States, whereas a majority of Latin America, if not all of Latin America, it's on Sunday. So that is a really wonderful thing to see. And what also I have found to be more customary is that there are lines in the morning, people line up before the polls open in Honduras, it was 7 a.m. My polling center, not all tables were open at 7 a.m. There were some, I mean, and not for the lack of trying. There was truly due diligence in trying to get all the tables opened at seven. Some of the tables had problems initiating the finger identification. Electronics once they got that enabled everything, you know, started operating more or less smoothly. But what I saw first thing in the morning in which I saw earlier in the month in Nicaragua on November 7th and again in Venezuela on 21 November. Is that older people vote first thing in the morning in general? I mean, that's a gen, you know, that's a generalization. But and you mentioned that there were, you know, three ballots, one for president, one for congressional elections and then one for the local elections. And three ballots. And then when you were done, had to be, you know, verified by the table, stamped and signed off on. And then each ballot had to be put in its respective urn, its respective ballot box. And I will say for some of the older people, that I observed it was confusing to make sure that the right ballot, three ballots to begin with, and then that each, you know, ballot was properly verified. And then after that, each ballot went in the correct box. Although there was plenty of where I was, plenty of instructional assistance to make sure that people saw the, the older people did have, I say older people like my age and older did have instructional assistance from the from the people monitoring the tables. And I and that I have to say, it was a wonderful thing to see. It was not interfering with their vote that it all been, you know, done privately, but, you know, just respecting their vote and respecting their need for assistance and offering it. I think that was a really wonderful thing to see. Then we saw, we saw a kind of a lull in the day, like midday, like between 11 and one where people would maybe be at church or having their family meal and then things picked up again later in the afternoon before poll closing, particularly among younger people. I saw a lot of the youth vote come out like four o'clock in the afternoon. And that was really encouraging as well. I didn't see any at the at the Mesa that our J.R.V. is what they're called in Honduras. It was very, I have to say, I was impressed with the team running the table. I witnessed and I stayed at one table for the entire day. I was impressed with their knowledge of the voting process and how they equitably and equally enforced among all voters. It was it was inspiring actually to see, particularly, and I don't say this to be disparaging, but particularly given the history of elections in Honduras, it was very, very encouraging to witness what I personally saw on the 28th was very encouraging. And it and it's an example of what's possible going forward, what can be perpetuated going forward. Yeah, and actually I was I was very surprised about, as you said, young people like talk to them, these these persons who they were, it was the first time they they were voting. And I was asking them, is this your first time? Why are you so happy because they were so happy when they went to the polls? And they were saying, because we grew up under this dictatorship, we only see we only saw during 12 years devastation, poverty, corruption. So they were saying that this was going to be the generation who was going to change Honduras. They were so happy. I uploaded a video of one of them, and she was so, so happy. And as I'm sorry, I don't remember her name. A lot of people, a lot of young, young people who, as I said, is it was the first time they were really enthusiastic. They were with their families, their families were so happy to. I think the day even even a day before the elections, we were wondering how it was going to be. Everyone was talking about the possible violence, about the tensions. But it didn't happen until the close of the polls. I could feel that that might be violent because people were really excited about knowing the results. They were there. There was a lot of tension at that point around five, six p.m. in the afternoon. People were just wondering who was going to win. And at the pool, it was it was it was hard for me because, you know, the people has to show the person in charge, has to show the boats. When it was a Shomara boat, she didn't want to say anything and she had to yell the name. She has to say Shomara and Nasrga's food. So she was from the party of the of the actual government. She's so she didn't want to say it loud. And there was a lot of people outside the center about the pool center. They were going crazy because they wanted to take notes and to count the boat by boat. It was amazing. And at some point, people were saying like, thank God you are there telling me we needed more observers. We need people like you recording. We need more international people just watching this historical day. So it was a big responsibility. I think I was so stressful, you know, it was it was a stress because I I know that it was the big day for endurance after 12 years of this government, after the coup, after the 2017 elections with a lot of violence, violence. So I know that it was a big responsibility. But the whole day, people were recognizing the role of the observers. And that's something that I'm I'm really grateful of being there of see the whole the whole elections. It was a big responsibility and people were taking it like that, like they they knew that it was a big day for not only for the president of Honduras, but for the next generation. So it was amazing. It was, I will say, we should give a shout out to CeSpad because you and I were part of of teams that were organized under CeSpad. This was their first, basically a prototype national election observation delegation for them. And I've shared this with with other people as well. I personally believe it was amazingly well run. There are a lot of organizations who have been doing that type of work for a number of years and who still don't get it quite right. And I think what you and I experienced on the 20th and even and leading up the entire delegation from our arrival to Honduras to our departure, the educational opportunities we have, the meetings that we were that were arranged for us, the education and also really what was very impressive to me. And you'll probably laugh, but all the forums we got, you know, particularly for Election Day, really detailing everything that was our responsibility, everything that we were to be looking for and watching out at what the protocol and process was very, very thorough. And it really was an enormous responsibility and an honor, a real honor to have been invited to participate. And it was a huge responsibility for the young people of Honduras. Imagine this being your first election, the first election you're qualified to participate in, to vote in and to having this enormous responsibility of changing the direction of your country. I mean, that's a really profound thing to take into the polling center with you at a very young age. And yet the young people had such a they were all very mature and very professional, especially the ones that were our guides, that they had really well-defined leadership skills and a real sense of responsibility and desire to create a new future for themselves. And that that was really, at times, made me teary-eyed to be around them. It was very, very inspiring, but also kind of sad to see that they have to have to assume that so young, right? I mean, just what they were born and raised under. And yet they've embraced it and are, you know, will take. I really believe they're going to take their country forward. I think that one of the things that you mentioned earlier was well, and me as well, that we had three ballots, one of them presidential, congressional and local being mayoral or what they call deputies, I believe. The congressional count is taking a very, very long time. I, you know, you mentioned this when you first started describing the crisis. And that's concerning. And I think. Viably concerning because that is the complexion of the Congress is going to determine exactly how much the incoming president is going to be allowed to do or not do. And the Congress of the 128 seats, I believe it looks like with the Libre Party and its coalition, they may achieve 64 seats. But again, that goes to the coalition that you were defining earlier on that it's a real, you know, it's not one political ideology. It's not one consolidated vision. It's a mixed bag, but 64 seats could could help the president president really implement a good percentage of her of her vision. We hope. But it is concerning that the congressional results are taking so long. I mean, these elections took place Sunday, the 28th. And we still don't know exactly what the Congress looks like and under us. Yeah, that's where that that's where, you know, a legislative, so to speak, coup could happen, the negating of her powers or the control of her power as president. Yeah, as I said, she might have won with this alliance because of this alliance, we still don't know how this progressive agenda will look like, even when she has put in the center, so many promises that she has done to the population. But at the same time, I totally agree that one of the main issues is the Congress, and we still don't know how it looks like at this point after a week and a half of the elections, we still don't know. Actually, the presidential results and also the congressional results. And also, I don't know how the how the other parties will allow because, as we said, it's not a leftist alliance. And we know that it was necessary because it reminds me a lot of Mexico 2018 that I wanted to do this big alliance. So we don't have any doubt about his his presidency about that he won with a lot of the population supporting him. I think it was pretty similar what what happened in Honduras, but I mean, here in Mexico, the alliance, especially there was a party that it was from the right, I would say. But the rest of the alliance, it was like a progressive one. And in the case of Honduras, it is not the case. Salvador Nasralla, with the party Salvador Salvador de Honduras, he he ran for presidency in 2017. Also, with an alliance with Tamara Castro, a partido libre, we have to say once again that Tamara Castro represents the leftist part of the politics in in Honduras. He is the wife of the former president, Manuel Celaya. Manuel Celaya has insisted that the coup against him was because he wanted to make like put more to the left the politics in in Honduras. And that's why the orchestrated a coup against him. But now we don't know how how we look at government of this kind of alliance. You have the spokesman of the oligarchs or some businessmen in Honduras at the same time that you are promising that you're going to fight them in the case of Xiomara. So it's going to be very complicated, especially with when so many people decided to vote for Xiomara in the presidency. But at the same time, they still voted for the liberal party that is the center left or the center. I wouldn't say center left, the liberal party center center. So they voted for Xiomara. And at the same time, they voted in the Congress for for another party might be in the center left in the center right. So it's very complicated to believe. I cannot believe that there is going to be a government like Evo Morales in Bolivia or like even Rafael Correa, who wasn't a socialist. I don't know what's going to happen at this point. The only thing we're sure at this moment is that Juan Orlando Hernandez, a national party, Partido Nacional, lost the election. And we still don't know what's going to happen with the president. Also, people are wondering if he is going to live in Honduras or if he is going to stay in. We don't know so many things. Don't get a nice house in Doral, Florida. I should just. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Meanwhile, meanwhile, his brother is in jail. So there is there's a lot of things that we're going to we're going to see next month or in a year because we don't know how our government of Xiomara in alliance with the center right is going to look like. She to me, you know, in listening to your comments, she to me is is inheriting a situation with, you know, a population that wants to move center left one. So a government more concerned about social investment, infrastructure, social investment in infrastructures and institutions. But with a very powerful, wealthy oligarchy remaining in the country, which is not unlike the Venezuela that Hugo Chavez inherited. And it's still that complexity exists in Venezuela. So, you know, something else you mentioned was it was this huge majority created in, you know, for on load to win in or the coalition created for on load to win in Mexico and Xiomara to win in Honduras. And I think, unfortunately, that at this moment is needed. The center of I. I hate to say left because that's such a. I mean, even though that's where our politics tend to go, it's it's such a term defined by by Western media that it often is much more to the right than what it should be. But for progressive to leftist or even government's center left now seem to have to win with a super majority so that there is no question as to their political capital when they when they take office. And I think the president of Mexico was very smart in that strategy. I mean, it does have some restraints once you're elected. But but you can't question, you know, the president's position nor the win itself when you have that supermajority. Unfortunately, I think that's what's going to take going forward, particularly throughout Latin America. And so let's talk a little bit about before we close our episode. Let's talk a little bit about what this win for Xiomara Castro means or could potentially mean for Central America and the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean. Yeah, well, as I say, it's pretty complicated to know what's going to happen with these alliances and we still don't know because even inside Honduras is pretty complicated because a lot of the social movements, human rights defenders, they voted for Xiomara because it was the best option. But not because they trust the actual institutions, the actual government or because they trust even in the party, they were just tired of being assassinating that that's why they voted for Xiomara. So even in Honduras, it's pretty complicated to understand what's going to happen, what's the next step is social movements. They maintain their distance of Xiomara. They voted for her. But at the same time, I don't know if there's going to be a kind of coalition with these movements that are more in the left. They're pretty to the left than the candidate, Xiomara Castro. So for Central America, we are seeing, for example, in El Salvador, a government of Bukele, who is really aligned to the US interest. Also, that is reconfiguring a lot of things with the Biden's administration. We've seen a Nicaragua under imperialism all the aggressions all the time, imperialist aggressions all the time in the last elections in November 7th, where you were there in Nicaragua. We saw the aggressions against the government of Daniel Ortega. And I think this was not about if you like or not Daniel Ortega. It was an open aggression against the Sandinista movement. And so we don't do this like moving moving a little bit more to the left. Definitely we we can expect an alliance in the region. On duras, I was I was saying in to my colleagues, to my friends, the importance of on duras to the US was very important because I mean, the importance was on duras is in Central America, in Central America, the same as Colombia in South America and that Israel in in in. In the Middle East. Yeah, in the Middle East. So now without on duras, I don't know what what's the next step of the US in the region, maybe moving moving the alliance to to El Salvador moving forward to attack. I don't know what's going to what what what what what what what the US is going to do in Central America. But also we saw a the victory of Xiomara Castro because Biden administration is not in the best in the best moment. We I was I was I was telling my friends, like maybe they would have tried a fraud or another another kind of moves in in on duras. I mean, the US and the Oligarchies and the right wing, but they couldn't because even the US is not able to make a fraud or to do something else outside. Meanwhile, after Afghanistan, after Biden's administration, like the men's that that means now Biden's administration at this point. So not only for Central America, for the rest of the region, on duras and also it was a month, a whole month full of electoral processes in Latin America. So it was not only about on duras. It was about Nicaragua. It was it was about Venezuela in Venezuela, even with the European Union and the OES as observers. They they couldn't say that it was a fraud or that it was illegitimate illegitimate the elections. So we're seeing the people empowering themselves in the region that the US under these context, they are not able to to implement this stabilization or a fraud or something. So it was a process in the middle of another electoral processes and also we're going to see what's going to happen in Chile next in a week and a half. It's very important because it's a far, far right against the the left or the center left with body. So on duras was was very important for the US, not only for Central America, also for Mexico. I think one of the things that Amlo does hasn't the power to solve during his administration is a migrant situation, the migration issue. And of course, Mexico government should be interested in collaborating with the new government of Honduras so they can solve or they can give another answers and other yeah, another answer to how they're how the Mexican government are treating is treating now the immigration issue. So it was important for the whole region, even for Latin America, the Caribbean, Mexico, North America, this election. So even when it is a really small country of nine million and a half percent, I mean, we are more Mexicans in Mexico City than Honduras in Honduras. So it was very important for the whole region. It's very. It is a sign of possibility. What's possible? Yeah. And that is a huge. It's very symbolic. It's a huge message, the possibility and the hope of what's to come. I guess I should we should maybe end it there. Possibility and hope for the future, especially for the young people, which includes you, which includes you. And so I want to remind our audience, you've been you've been watching what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean Code Pinks Weekly YouTube program. We broadcast every Wednesday at 7 30 p.m. Eastern on Code Pink YouTube live. We're also you can also find us on Apple podcast and Spotify. And don't forget to catch Code Pink radio every Thursday morning, 11 a.m. Eastern on WBAI New York City and WPFW out of Washington, D.C. Code Pink radio can also be found on Apple podcast and Spotify. So thank you, Alina. So wonderful. Thank you to with you. I always enjoy your time and your friendship. And I look forward to our next conversation. And we should all just give a huge shout out to the people of Honduras. Definitely agree on it. Thanks once again, Terry, for the invitation and for having me. Hope we can meet again in another another episode. We definitely will. And for our audience, you can catch Alina on SeenSensora on Sunday afternoons at one o'clock, which is two o'clock Eastern, I believe, and that SeenSensora YouTube and Canal Catorce here in Mexico City. And before we go, tell our audience a little bit about New West for Red. About what? About New West for Red, because that's who you were in Honduras. Yeah. Well, it was not only about cesspool. It was also a coalition with Global Exchange and Nuestra Red. Nuestra Red is an organization who is always trying to make some noise about global issues, especially Latin American, the Caribbean and the role of the US specifically in the region. So you can follow Nuestra Red in Twitter where you can find it in Nuestra Red MX because it's from Mexico. And as you said, a shout out to to CESPA, to Global Exchange and Nuestra Red, who made this possible, this coverage in Honduras. So we are in Twitter, in Facebook and weekly we have some. I mean, I collaborate with them, but I assume it's like now my organization, I participate with them sometimes like every week. But we have some webinars about, as I said, Latin America, the US imperialism and local struggles here in Mexico in the US also, so you can follow them in Twitter and in Facebook. Great. Thank you so much. It's a terrific project all with young journalists from Latin America, principally Mexico. OK, everyone, you can catch us next week. See you then. Thank you. Bye.