Hondurans are voting for a new president on Sunday in an election that many fear will be volatile, in part because President Trump has weighed in, endorsing a candidate and announcing a pardon for an unpopular ex-president from the same party who was convicted on drug-trafficking charges in U.S. federal court last year.
The two right-wing contenders for president, including a former mayor endorsed by Mr. Trump, have drummed up fears about the country’s becoming the next Venezuela, a socialist-led authoritarian state racked by crises, and accused the left-wing party in power of plotting to remain in power.
The accusations and warnings have reminded Hondurans of the violence that erupted after the bitterly contested election of 2017. That year, Juan Orlando Hernández, the ex-president whom Mr. Trump vowed to pardon, claimed victory, setting off protests and a military crackdown. Nearly two dozen people were killed.
Hondurans in the capital, Tegucigalpa, were on edge this weekend. Storefronts had been boarded up and people were taking home extra groceries for what many feared could be days of uncertainty, if not unrest.
Who are the candidates?
Rixi Moncada, a lawyer and former finance and defense minister, is the chosen candidate of the governing leftist Libre Party.
Libre won decisively in 2021. But Ms. Moncada faces deep frustration among Hondurans who say the party did not deliver on core promises like combating corruption.
Onetime supporters appear to be turning to the other candidates.
Mr. Trump’s pick for the presidency is Nasry Asfura, a construction entrepreneur and former mayor of Tegucigalpa from the conservative National Party. Mr. Asfura, nicknamed Tito and Papi, ran on his differences from Libre and said that the party and the military could “steal” the election.
The other right-wing candidate is Salvador Nasralla, a sportscaster, who split with his former ally Libre to join the right-wing Liberal Party for his fourth bid for the presidency. Mr. Nasralla has cast himself as an anticorruption candidate who will end the reign of President Xiomara Castro and her husband, the former president Manuel Zelaya.
When he endorsed Mr. Asfura on his Truth Social network, Mr. Trump claimed that Mr. Nasralla was covertly in league with the left-wing party, which Mr. Trump called “the Communists.”
A Libre official, Enrique Reina, denied that his party was communist.
What is at stake?
For many Hondurans, domestic problems come first: corruption, persistent crime and the cost of living.
The country’s murder rate has decreased significantly under Ms. Castro, but it is still among the highest in Central America.
Post-pandemic inflation and soaring costs have also been crushing. Many Hondurans, juggling jobs, say they make only enough to eat and face extortion by gangs.
Voters are also disappointed by accusations that officials in the governing party have the same kind of criminal ties that landed Ms. Castro’s predecessor, Mr. Hernández, in a U.S. prison on drug charges.
“According to the news, it seems they’re involved in the same thing as always, in corruption and narco-trafficking,” said Anibal García, 45, a rural resident.
The election is also about Honduras’s foreign relations. Honduras has cultivated ties to China, even as it has collaborated with the Trump administration on deportations.
Why is the U.S. interested?
The new Trump administration has taken an avid interest in Latin America, rewarding leaders who advance its goals and punishing those who do not.
Experts say that Honduras’s right-wing candidates, seizing on that interest, have courted leaders in Washington by linking the governing Libre Party to Venezuela and Cuba.
Representative María Elvira Salazar of Florida told Hondurans this month in a speech before Congress: “I am not telling you who to vote for. All I am saying is do not elect a communist.”
The Libre Party’s cooperation on deportations scored it points with the Trump administration, although it alienated some voters.
Ms. Castro started the year by threatening to oust the U.S. military from a Honduran base over Mr. Trump’s deportation plans. But her government changed course and started to assist the United States.
Nearly 30,000 Hondurans have been deported so far this year, about 13,000 more than during the same period last year.
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What about the fraud accusations?
Analysts expect contested results. Libre has said its rivals are planning to manipulate the vote, while its opponents argue that it could influence electoral authorities or the military.
Mr. Reina said Libre had the support to win fairly. Both Mr. Nasralla and Mr. Asfura have warned their supporters that Libre will try to hold onto power by fraud or force.
“Instead of discussing their proposals for the country, the candidates have focused on attacking each other,” said Ana María Méndez Dardón, the Central America director for the Washington Office on Latin America.
The European Union and Organization of American States have raised concerns over the integrity of the election. Christopher Landau, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, promised that the Trump administration would respond “swiftly and decisively” to any attempt to undermine the electoral process.
Emiliano Rodríguez Mega contributed reporting from Mexico City.
Annie Correal is a Times reporter covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
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