Trump’s threat casts shadow as polls open – DW – 11/30/2025


Voting has begun in Honduras as citizens vote to elect a new president, just days after US President Donald Trump intervened in a close race with his endorsement of a candidate and announced he would pardon a former president in the Central American country.

Trump has also threatened to cut aid to the country if his preferred candidate, Nasri “Tito” Asfura of the right-wing National Party, is not successful.

Who is in the running to become the next President of Honduras?

Honduras could be the next country in Latin America, after Argentina and Bolivia, to lean to the right after years of leftist rule.

Polls show three candidates are neck-and-neck in the race to succeed leftist President Xiomara Castro, whose husband Manuel Zelaya also led the country before being ousted in a 2009 coup.

Trump-backed Asfura, 60-year-old lawyer Rixi Moncada of the ruling Libre Party and 72-year-old TV host Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party are the leading candidates to become the next president of Honduras.

Rixi Moncada of the ruling Libre party was seen casting her vote at a polling station in Tegucigalpa here.
Rixi Moncada represents the ruling Libre party.Image: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images

Trump’s threat

Polls open at 7 a.m. local time (1300 GMT), with the first results expected late Sunday after polling stations close at 5 p.m.

Honduras presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla (C) of the opposition Liberal Party wears a T-shirt that reads "Joh never again," Referring to former President Juan Orlando Hernandez during a press conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Nasralla wore a T-shirt reading “JOH Never Again”, referring to former President Juan Orlando Hernández, on the eve of the election.Image: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images

Trump has conditioned continued financial aid to one of Latin America’s poorest countries on Asfura’s victory.

“If he (Asfura) does not win, the United States will not throw good money after bad money,” he posted on his Truth social platform on Friday, repeating threats he made in support of Argentinian President Javier Meili’s party in recent midterms.

Trump also announced Friday that he planned to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez of the National Party, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for cocaine trafficking and other charges.

The election, which will also elect 128 members of Congress, hundreds of mayors and thousands of other public officials, is taking place in a polarized environment, with the three top candidates accusing each other of fraud.

Moncada has even suggested that she would not recognize the official results.

Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko



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