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News > Latin America

2 Killed in Honduran Post-Presidential Election Protests

  • Security forces face off with demonstrators protesting the re-election of Hernandez in Tegucigalpa, Honduras January 23, 2018.

    Security forces face off with demonstrators protesting the re-election of Hernandez in Tegucigalpa, Honduras January 23, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Published 23 January 2018
Opinion

Honduran armed forces have been engaged in violent clashes with Nasralla supporters as the Opposition Alliance team called for fresh demonstrations. 

According to former presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla, two additional people were killed while protesting Honduras' alleged fraudulent election results. 

RELATED: 
Honduras: Anti-Govt. Protests Continue Ahead of Presidential Inauguration

Nasralla said in a tweet, “They just killed 2 more today 23/1/18 in SPS (San Pedro Sula) and another in Arizona, Atlantida. I can’t sit and dialogue with someone who kills my compatriots. I demand that as the winner of the election, according to the majority, that the killings stop and the country is demilitarized.”

NotiBomba news agency confirmed that at least one person was killed by “the bullets of security forces.” On Sunday, military forces killed a 60-year-old man and severely wounding another.

Honduran armed forces have been engaged in violent clashes with Nasralla supporters as the Opposition Alliance team – headed by former President Manuel Zelaya – called for fresh demonstrations ahead of Jan. 27 presidential swearing-in of Juan Orlando Hernandez.

The Opposition Alliance charges that the result of the Nov. 26 election was a fraud. Nasralla says the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) “stole” the elections from him on behalf of Hernandez. Nasralla and his supporters have refused to acknowledge the incumbent as the official winner of the polls.

Election observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union say the election and counting processes were plagued by many “irregularities” resulting in it being impossible to determine a winner. Up to Dec. 27, the OAS secretary general was calling for new elections.

Culminating this week’s protests, the Opposition is pushing for a nationwide boycott of public transportation and banks. They are also urging Hondurans to boycott several U.S.-based restaurant chains including Wendy’s, Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald’s, which are largely owned by Hernandez supporters.

Committee of the Families of Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) reported that, between Nov. 28 and Dec. 30, at least 31 people were killed while protesting the results of the election and another 232 injured – mainly at the hands of the military and national police.

The organization also stated that 1,085 people were victims of "cruel, inhumane and degrading" behavior by state authorities.

Nearly half of the Honduran national congress, in support of Nasralla, protested the swearing-in of the congressional leadership of the National Party. Members in support of the Opposition Alliance announced they “oppose the fraudulent election and denounce that the political partiality on part of the authorities. There are protests in the street against this new congressional leadership.”

Honduran Attorney General Oscar Chinchilla is in Brazil investigating Manuel Zelaya’s supposed connection to a corruption scheme involving Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht. "I’m glad that they are investigating. Investigate whatever they want,” tweeted Zelaya of the accusations, adding that Honduras was the only country in Latin America that did not ask for kickbacks from Odebrecht.

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