International

Honduras elections: the top three candidates

AFP

Thirteen candidates will contest Honduras’s razor-tight presidential election on Sunday to see who will succeed scandal-tainted Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Here are short profiles of the top three challengers.

– Left –

Xiomara Castro was never meant to run for president, but she is the front runner to become her country’s first female leader.

As the wife of Manuel Zelaya, she was first lady in 2009 when her husband was deposed in a coup supported by the military, business elites and the political right.

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She made her name leading mass street protests against the coup and there began her own rise to presidential hopeful.

Tough but softly spoken, her popularity stems from her defense of the poor.

But in a deeply conservative and macho country, she faces the twin difficulties of opponents branding her a communist and a puppet for her husband.

“The shadow of Zelaya weighs heavily on her, and in Honduran society it can be assumed that Zelaya is the power behind the throne,” sociologist Eugenio Castro told AFP.

The ruling party has also tried to discredit her proposals to legalize abortion and same-sex marriage — touchy issues in much of Central America.

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Often seen wearing denim jeans, and always with a white cowboy hat, the 62-year-old insists she stands for a “Honduran-style democratic socialism” and has tried to distance herself from the leftist models in Cuba and Venezuela that scare many voters.

Already an unsuccessful candidate in 2013, when she narrowly lost to Hernandez, Castro has some heavyweight backing this time — not least in Salvador Nasralla, a television host who lost out to Hernandez in 2017 amidst accusations of fraud.

Castro was born into a middle-class Catholic family and married Zelaya aged just 16. The couple have four children.

Zelaya says the children have a mix of Spanish, Basque, indigenous, Arab and Senegalese blood.

– Right –

Tall, slim and always seen in jeans, a long-sleeved blue shirt and farming boots, Nasry Asfura likes to present himself as a rural worker allergic to offices.

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The 63-year-old of Palestinian descent, the current mayor of Tegucigalpa, is the candidate for the ruling right-wing National Party (PN).

With that comes the benefit of the political machinery that has kept the PN in power for a dozen years, but also the stigma of being linked to drug trafficking and corruption.

“I have never spent a single day sat in my office in the town hall, every day I go out into the streets to serve and see where there are problems,” he said, vowing to generate jobs if elected.

He is credited with improving the traffic congestion in Tegucigalpa by building many bridges, tunnels and roundabouts in the capital during his two four-year terms as mayor.

The father of three is a graduate in civil engineering and created a construction company that became one of the biggest in the country.

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Although styled as the law-and-order candidate, Asfura has not escaped the accusations of corruption blighting many Honduran politicians.

“He has been accused not just in Honduras, (but also) the Pandora Papers and in Costa Rica. That’s not a good sign,” said Eugenio Sosa, a professor of sociology at the National University.

Asfura was accused in October 2020 by the public prosecutor of embezzling $700,000, while he was linked in the Pandora Papers to influence peddling in Costa Rica.

And while he has not been linked himself to drug trafficking, “he’s been compromised by protecting Hernandez,” said Sosa.

– Center –

The centrist candidate, Yani Rosenthal, is a convicted drug trafficker.

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He spent three years in a US jail after admitting laundering drug trafficking money. He was released in August 2020, just in time to run for president.

He is the son of the late Jaime Rosenthal, one of the richest people in Honduras — and prison time was tough on someone used to a silver spoon.

“I learned to wash myself from the waist up in the sink and from the waist down in the toilet,” said the 56-year-old.

Despite his criminal record, in March he won the primaries to be the center-right Liberal Party’s candidate.

The law graduate has his work cut out as his beaten rival, Luis Zelaya, refused to support him and is instead backing Castro.

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He has presented himself as the centrist candidate against “left-wing extremism” and PN corruption.

“We don’t want a radical leftist path, nor a corrupt right-wing one, we want a liberal path down the center,” he said.

He claims to be the only candidate able to present “viable” economic solutions and has vowed to give every adult a $60 monthly voucher.

A father of four, he was minister of the presidency for two years under Zelaya and says he has a track record of creating jobs.

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International

Trump moves to reclassify marijuana as less dangerous substance

Former U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous addictive substance, a move aimed at encouraging medical research without immediately opening the door to federal-level decriminalization.

Trump said that “people were begging” him to make the decision, particularly individuals suffering from chronic pain. He stressed, however, that the measure “is not at all a decriminalization” of marijuana for non-medical use.

“I’ve always told my children: don’t use drugs, don’t drink, don’t smoke,” Trump added. He is a well-known teetotaler.

A senior government official described the decision as “common sense” during a briefing with reporters, noting that marijuana and CBD-based products — a compound derived from cannabis known for its relaxing properties — are already widely used in the United States by patients dealing with chronic pain.

Most U.S. states currently allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes, and more than 20 states, along with the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., have also legalized recreational use.

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International

Shakira’s El Salvador concerts sell out in hours, fans demand more dates

The sell-out of all three announced Shakira concerts in El Salvador in less than 24 hours has sparked a collective call for additional dates, highlighting an overwhelming demand that transcends borders and positions the country as a cultural hub in Central America.

Ticket sales for Shakira’s Central American residency confirmed the artist’s massive impact across the region. The three shows scheduled for February 12, 14, and 15 in El Salvador sold out in under 24 hours, triggering an immediate public response from fans who were unable to secure tickets and are now urging promoters to open new dates, according to an official statement from promoters Two Shows and Fenix Entertainment.

Even before ticket sales officially opened, thousands of people joined virtual queues that exceeded the usual capacity of the country’s ticketing platforms. Despite logging in early and waiting for hours, many users were unable to complete their purchases and were ultimately left without tickets, Two Shows reported.

The unprecedented demand was widely documented through screenshots, testimonials, and social media posts, showing slow-moving waiting lists, ticketing websites overwhelmed by traffic, and purchase processes that failed to go through despite users following all required steps within the designated timeframes.

According to the organizers, demand to see Shakira perform in El Salvador remains strong even after the sell-out. Meanwhile, hotels have reported booking inquiries beyond the announced concert dates, pointing to a larger-than-expected tourism influx tied to the event.

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International

Rubio rules out 2028 presidential bid if Vance runs

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would not seek the presidency in 2028 if current Vice President JD Vancedecides to run as the Republican nominee to succeed President Donald Trump.

“If JD Vance runs for president, he will be our candidate, and I will be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio said in an interview with Vanity Fair, in which he appeared alongside other senior members of the presidential cabinet.

Rubio, 54, and Vance, 41, are widely viewed as two of the leading Republican figures who could headline the party’s ticket in the 2028 election. Under the U.S. Constitution, Trump is barred from seeking another term after completing two presidential mandates.

In a lighthearted moment during the interview, Vance jokingly offered photographers $1,000 if they managed to make him look better than Rubio in the photos. Both leaders have received public backing from Trump, who last October floated the idea of a joint ticket featuring Rubio and Vance, without clarifying who would lead it.

“I think that if they ever teamed up, they would be unstoppable. I don’t think anyone would run against us,” Trump said at the time.

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White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who also took part in the interview, confirmed that Trump does not intend to violate the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits a third presidential term, though she acknowledged that the president is “having fun” with speculation about a possible return to office.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, served as a Republican senator from 2010 to 2025. He sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2016 but was defeated by Trump after a bruising primary contest. His name was floated as a potential vice presidential pick in 2024, but Vance ultimately secured the spot. After taking office, Trump appointed Rubio as secretary of state, making him the first Latino to hold the position.