After Christmas Eve, the conservative published a video on his social networks with a message in favor of the reconciliation of a deeply divided and polarized society. Asfura (Tegucigalpa, 67 years old), aims to turn the page on a chaotic month in the Central American country. It all began on November 30, with the presidential elections and a long and disorderly scrutiny plagued by interruptions, technical failures, thousands of ballots with inconsistencies, accusations by the candidates against the electoral authorities and allegations of fraud. “It is time for reconciliation, unity and peace. We must recognize ourselves as what we are, a single Honduran family,” said Asfura.
The candidate of the National Party will, however, have to make a great effort to govern a country in which half of the electorate turned its back on him, because he won the election with the minimum, 40.2% of the votes, less than a percentage point above his main opponent, the television presenter Salvador Nasralla, of the Liberal Party.
He must also move away from the bad image of his political group, tarnished by the former president’s management. Although Hernández was pardoned by Trump in a maneuver with which the American tried to influence the presidential election, an administration plagued by allegations of corruption still weighs on the memory of Hondurans.
One of the most notorious was the case of the Honduran Social Security Institute, which suffered an embezzlement of more than 200 million dollars. Journalistic investigations revealed that part of that money was used to finance the electoral campaign of the National Party, of which Hernández is a member. The former president is also accused of buying favors from judges and officials to be re-elected, despite the fact that the Honduran Constitution absolutely prohibited a second term. His critics claim that part of his government’s power rested on pacts with drug traffickers.
Asfura tries to distance himself from that past and sells himself as a pragmatic, folksy, efficient politician capable of lifting Honduras out of the depth of poverty, inequality and violence that torments it and launching this nation of eleven million inhabitants into modernity. “Honduras, I am prepared to govern. I will not fail you,” he promised.
It is not an easy task, given that data from the World Bank show that in Honduras poverty is 63%, institutions are weak, corruption is rampant, and Honduras is vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. This was demonstrated by the damage caused by the disasters, which left more than 4.5 million people affected, according to the Permanent Contingency Commission of Honduras (Copeco). Honduras also continues to be one of the most violent countries for activists and journalists, as demonstrated by the murder of the environmentalist.
The son of Palestinian immigrants, Asfura trained as a civil engineer and has developed a business career in the construction sector. It is with that profile of a builder that he entered politics: he assures that public function should be exercised like the administration of a company and with that idea he managed to be elected mayor of the so-called Central District – which includes the capital, Tegucigalpa, and its neighbor Comayagüela – between 2014 and 2022.
During his mandate, Asfura developed infrastructure projects in a capital where even pedestrian crossings are something exotic, he expanded roads, built overpasses and tunnels to alleviate the city’s chaotic traffic, improved the drainage system and paved, according to himself, more than 200 kilometers of streets. Due to this technical server profile, he has called himself “”, a nickname he uses on his social networks.
A management that has not been free of controversy, since his detractors accused him of mishandling public funds while he was mayor or of benefiting companies with which he supposedly had ties or close to his political party. (almost a million euros) to cover their company expenses and even make transfers to their daughters’ personal accounts.
Asfura has denied all allegations. During his administration as mayor he also dragged along a failed project left by his predecessor, known as Trans-450, a $150 million project designed to offer a decent public transportation route for a population that demands it. The project was not finished and the metrobus stations appear forgotten and vandalized as a sign of the cancer of corruption that metastasizes in this small Central American country. Asfura, in addition, appeared in the so-called Pandora Papersas a shareholder of companies offshore in Panama, according to an investigation by the Honduran media. He has denied that involvement.
The conservative politician, who likes to cross himself in all his public appearances and mention God as the guarantor of his political triumphs, has jumped on the ultra wave that is sweeping America. Not only has he thanked Trump for his support, with whom he appears submissive and loyal, but he says he is close to the Argentine Javier Milei —“we share the same principles and values,” he said— and has congratulated José Antonio Kast’s victory in Chile, whom he has recognized for his “commitment to the defense of democracy and freedom.”
In Honduras, where social and political conservatism has historically predominated interspersed with moments of reforms and internal tensions, Asfura clings to traditions to gain support. He is trying to leave behind his country’s history of instability – the former, a fact that still divides society -, which is why he appeared conciliatory during a campaign full of attacks and insults from the other opponents. He maintained a profile close to the population, a man respectful of the traditional family and deeply religious and called for calm during the most chaotic moments of the electoral count. “The stability of the country is above any personal ambition,” he said.
It is that prudent appearance that he is trying to sell now that he has been declared president-elect, with the idea of reconciling a divided and polarized society. It remains to be seen if he will achieve it during a term that appears difficult, with a Congress dominated by the opposition and a country that demands urgent reforms against corruption, efficient actions against gangs and organized crime and measures to end the misery that affects millions of Hondurans. It will undoubtedly be necessary to do more than the call for reconciliation that he made on Christmas Eve.
