The selective nature of this ‘anti-corruption’ agenda makes it a witch-hunt. But this is not a fight against corruption because if it was one, it wouldn’t spare BJP leaders accused of corruption. Raids and summons intensify especially when an election is around the corner. Since 2014, the Narendra Modi government has been relentlessly pursuing corruption allegations against opposition leaders.
Chidambaram faces arrest for alleged corruption in the INX Media case, it is worth remembering that Chidambaram was the home minister when Amit Shah was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of murder in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. But he was sure his vote would not go to the National Party, “because of the high level of corruption it has shown.As former Union minister P. “There isn’t an option of proposals that we can trust it’s just more of the same,” he said. Luis Vásquez, a 43-year-old systems technician in Tegucigalpa, said he was underwhelmed by all of the candidates. In addition to president, Hondurans will elect a new congress and their representatives for the Central American Parliament. Vice President Kamala Harris has said corruption in the region is one of the key problems driving that movement.Īccording to the Vanderbilt University’s Americas’ Barometer Pulse of Democracy 2021 report released this month, more than half of the those polled in the nation of 9.3 million expressed a desire to live or work abroad - 30 percentage points higher than in 2004. The Biden administration has continued to struggle with Central American migrants arriving at the Southwest border, many of them from Honduras. But US prosecutors have shown that while the government was assisting in interdiction, its politicians were benefiting from drug proceeds and helping protect other shipments, most notably in the case of former lawmaker Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, the president’s brother, who was sentenced to life in prison in the United States. “This is the moment to say enough of the misery, the poverty, and the exclusion that our country experiences now.”įor years, the US relationship with Honduras has been governed by Honduras’ willingness to cooperate in the war on drugs as a key transshipment point for cocaine headed north and in helping to stem migration. “They call Honduras a narco state because of this mafia that governs us and because of which they also say we’re the most corrupt country in Latin America,” Castro said at a recent campaign event. Berman said he had paid millions in bribes to government officials, including $2 million to Zelaya, an accusation Zelaya denied.Ĭastro’s campaign has focused on the need to remove the existing power structure, and tying Asfura to Hernández at every opportunity. When a Honduran drug trafficker was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in 2019, US Attorney Geoffrey S. Officials justified his ouster by alleging he planned to violate the same constitutional ban on reelection that Hernández later ignored. He was ousted by the military in a coup in 2009. The 62-year-old candidate of the leftist Liberty and Refoundation party is the wife of former President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who had aggravated both the US and Honduran establishments by building close ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. She lost to Hernández in his first run and then dropped out in 2017 when she joined the coalition backing television personality Salvador Nasralla, who this year dropped out to back her. Polls give Xiomara Castro the best chance of beating Asfura. Whichever of the 14 candidates gets the most votes Sunday wins there is no runoff. The National Party’s strength is its ability to distribute benefits and mobilize voters, including some 200,000 government employees, and Asfura is still in the race. At a recent rally in Tegucigalpa, Asfura pleaded, “I am different.” Try as he might, Asfura hasn’t been able to shake Hernández’s stigma. Honduran prosecutors also accuse him of diverting more than $1 million in public funds to personal use, but the Supreme Court has put the case on hold until a comptroller court investigates. So the National Party’s candidate in Sunday’s election, Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura, has faced significant headwinds as Hernández’s chosen successor. A friendly court sidestepped the constitutional ban on reelection and Hernández won a 2017 contest filled with irregularities that nonetheless was quickly recognized by the Trump administration. Hernández has denied it all and has not been formally charged, but that could change once he leaves office.Īnd many believe Hernández isn’t legitimately their president. US federal prosecutors in New York have accused him of running a narco state and fueling his own political rise with drug money. Hernández has also become a national embarrassment.