00:00In Honduras, the 2025 general elections are underway amid allegations of sabotage and
00:18foreign interference by the United States.
00:23Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez condemns blockade of the country's airspace
00:28by the U.S. and announces the activation of a repatriation plan for Venezuelan citizens
00:34in the United States.
00:38And the Israeli army violated the ceasefire in Gaza and escalated its military operations
00:43in the West Bank.
00:49Hello and welcome to From the South, I'm Alejandra Garcia from Telesur Studios in Habana, Cuba.
00:54We begin with the news.
01:13This update, the Honduran people goes to the polls amid allegations of sabotage and foreign
01:18interference by the United States.
01:20More than 6 million Hondurans are called upon to exercise the right to vote to elect the
01:26next president, 128 members of the National Congress, 20 representatives to the Central
01:32American Parliament and other political authorities.
01:35In the last few hours, the National Electoral Council has warned that there are plans to
01:40manipulate the will of the people through the system for transparent preliminary results.
01:45In this regard, the electoral authority urged citizens to actively participate in monitoring
01:51the vote count and to demand the use of biometric readers as required by the country's law.
01:57And for more details on Honduras Election Day, we are going live now with our Special Envoy Jorge
02:17Gestoso.
02:18Gestoso, welcome to From the South, what can you tell us?
02:24Most definitely here, we are already halfway from this electoral day here in the polls are indicating
02:46that the attention, the participation is massive, according to official figures, 23% of the electorate,
02:55we are talking about almost 6.5 million Hondurans are ready to vote and already at 2pm, that is a percentage,
03:06which is considered high level of participation, because there is a trend here to vote almost at the end of the
03:14electoral day. In the streets, there is absolutely calm, there are some delays in certain polling places,
03:24but in general, everything goes very, very smooth. We are waiting at this point, the closing of the electoral day,
03:33that is supposed to be at 5 and then could be extended if there are some people again in the lines waiting to be
03:41voting. But the question mark is, it has been put in dispute what is going to be the results that the track systems
03:53were going to transmission of the results, partial results, eventual results that is going to be announced by 9pm,
04:029pm or 8pm, because officially it has to be done three hours after the closing of the polls. So, definitely,
04:12that is a big question mark. Why? Because through days before it has been cut that there were 26 audios where one of the
04:22members of the electoral council was discussing with members of the opposition, and even the voice in those
04:30recordings of a military member, they were supposed, or the suspicion is that they have no doubts that they
04:38were planning to create an electoral fraud, an electoral coup, according to some of them. That's why the
04:48candidate of the official party Libre, Ritzi Moncada, after she voted this morning, the three main candidates
04:56were voting already, plus the President Xiomara Castro and her husband, the former President,
05:02theуса, Mineruel Zelaya, the first time that they see a trend are going to announce because she believes that
05:06could be manipulated. So, there is also the situation that the polls could indicate a trend. There are certain
05:12what the results by 9 o'clock that are going to be the first time that they see a trend
05:19are going to announce because she believes that could be manipulated.
05:23So there is also the situation that the polls could indicate a trend.
05:31There are certain suspicions that they are going to be not necessarily in the social
05:36networks announced way ahead in order to create also some impression of what is the trend.
05:45In the political official party, in the headquarters, Libertad and Refundacion Libre, there is optimism,
05:57there are smiles, they are very positive, so there is no indication why.
06:05Obviously we can say that they are getting that, that is the mood and so far we are waiting
06:11to see if in, we are talking about 2 hours and 15 minutes closing of the polls, everything
06:19is going to end up in harmony and the counting of the votes that are going to be also in presence
06:27of international observers are going to be running smooth.
06:33So now we get back to you.
06:36Thank you for all your information.
06:38Now let's continue with the analysis of this Sunday's electoral day in Honduras and now we
06:43are joined by international analyst Fernando Casal.
06:47Hi Fernando, thank you very much for joining us today.
06:50Thank you very much for having me.
06:53Let's jump riding.
06:54How would you describe the political climate in Honduras amid this crucial moment for the
06:59country?
07:00Well, I would say that it is highly polarized climate, there is a big polarization within
07:06the different candidates.
07:07It is something that we have been seeing lately in the occidental democracies quite often and
07:15also I would say that there is a lot at stake in Honduras right now because we will see after
07:21this election if there is a new right wing wave of governments in the region after Argentina
07:29and Bolivia or if the left still resist this Trumpist, I would say intervention in the region and a sort of
07:42excessive attention in what it would be named as a new Monroe Doctrine or Buckyer intentions of controlling countries like Honduras.
07:54So I would say that a lot is at stake tonight.
07:58And also from a regional perspective, how did you evaluate the recent deployment of US military
08:04assets in the Caribbean and also in the context in which Trump has just announced that he is seeking
08:10pardon for a convicted far-right ex-president of Honduras, especially amid this electoral process.
08:16How can we connect all of this situation?
08:20I think it is very contradictory that, on the one hand, it is accusing Rixi Moncada and Xiomara Castro of collaborating
08:29with the so-called non-existent Cartel of the Sons, Cartel de los Soles, and deploying all this military power in the Caribbean and at the same time
08:42he is also saying that he is going to pardon former president accused and convicted of trafficking drugs.
08:50So it is a bit awkward this contradictory position.
08:55But it seems that he wants clearly to benefit its own political allies and at the same time trying to jeopardize or prevent the left
09:06of governments for staying and trying to do anything else in his hand to oust the leftist government.
09:16So it is quite interesting and I would really want to see how the Hondurans are going to react.
09:23Also seeing that the deportations of Hondurans since Trump got into power has increased dramatically.
09:34Over 30,000 Hondurans have been deported to Honduras.
09:38So it is very important to take into consideration that 27% of Honduran GDP comes from remittances.
09:48And at the same time this express a way of trying to intervene in the internal affairs of Honduras and in the outcome of the elections.
10:00I want to see if the Hondurans are going to reject this intervention or as it happened in Argentina in the recent legislative elections.
10:10It had a benefit on its own candidate, on Millet.
10:15So perhaps we will see the rejection of Hondurans or perhaps they will sort of agree with this intervention that Trump is doing in Honduras.
10:30We will see that.
10:32Good evening.
10:33You are speaking about immigration and many analysts argue that U.S. policies towards progressive governments in Latin America
10:40and we are speaking from political pressure also to economic interference have had destabilizing effects that contribute directly to increased migration from the region.
10:51How do you interpret this dynamic, especially considering its increasingly aggressive anti-immigration rhetoric at the U.S., as you were mentioning?
11:01There is no doubt about it.
11:02There is no doubt about it.
11:04Actually, recently we have seen really dramatic real cases like Hondurans that have been living in the U.S. for decades
11:16and having their regular life in the U.S., having the U.S. wife, children and has been deported from one day to another
11:26in also very blur judicial procedures and that have been actually contested at the moment in the U.S.
11:35So I would say that this aggressive immigration policy that also Trump is developing against Latin Americans, asylum seekers and economic migrants,
11:49it's going to have also in the region devastating consequences, probably especially in those countries like Honduras that depend greatly in the remittances that come from the U.S.
12:04And I would also like to see if this is going to have a revolt against the U.S. and its intention in the region or what kind of consequences is it going to have?
12:15So in a way, Honduras is going to show us the path that in a great extent Latin America is going to follow as well, because most probably what will happen in Honduras will also make think the U.S. administration which path to take.
12:37If it is successful in supporting the right-wing candidate, it will keep on pressuring progressive governments.
12:49But if they are defeated and the leftist candidate, Rixi Moncada, wins elections, they will realize that probably their strategies are not in the right path
13:02and that they will have to change if they want to still have an influence in the region.
13:08So I think that tonight also we will see, depending on the outcome of the elections, what is going to be the future position of the U.S. in the region.
13:23Thank you very much, Fernando, for joining us today and for your analysis today.
13:29Thank you very much for having me.
13:32We were speaking to Fernando Casado in the context of Honduras General Elections 2025 and now we stay on topic.
13:41Earlier, the National Electoral Council of Honduras inaugurated the election day within the framework of the 2025 General Elections.
13:49Consular Marlon Ochoa reported that polling stations were set up in more than 5,740 voting centers in the country's 18 departments.
13:59He also announced that a vote receiving boards are now in place with all the members ready to receive voters.
14:06Ochoa also reminded the Honduran people to require the use of biometric system when they go to the polling station to guarantee the identity of voters.
14:16Also in this context, the National Electoral Council of Honduras denounced the vulnerability of the preliminary election results transmission system before the 2025 General Elections.
14:32Consular Marlon Ochoa assured that the vulnerabilities identifying the system for transmitting preliminary election results persist increasing concerns about its transparency.
14:43Consular Marlon Ochoa asserted that recent changes to the system increases vulnerability in a context where multiple failures have been reported in the technological infrastructure used to guarantee the security of the results.
14:57In the same context, the Consular reaffirmed that a fraudulent plan is still underway to favor opposition candidates through the selective transmission of votes.
15:06We are entering this election with a system TREP that has not been fully tested.
15:18In addition, there are allegations made public through audio recordings.
15:30Not only those that I submitted to the public prosecutor's office at the time, but also through other audio recordings that were made public through a YouTube channel during the week.
15:42It is clear that there is a plan to prevent the transmission of all votes and only allow the transmission of records that favor opposition candidates.
15:55And in this scenario, the presidential candidate for the Liberti and Refoundation Party, Rixi Mancada, made statements upon arriving at her polling station.
16:05Mancada expressed her confidence in the will of the people and also called on Honduras to decide their destiny through the vote.
16:12Don't let allow anyone to define our destiny. Let's go to the polls. Let's use the right that we have to vote. We support not only this day, but all the popular consultations to the Honduran people.
16:31People are going to decide their destinies. I'm going to speak about different topics that are national interest.
16:39The message is people to come to vote without fear. In this Pacific process, after the opening, they are informing us that we are counting just down.
16:52And I'm sure in this colony, people is going to come massively to vote.
16:59We have a short break coming up, but first remember you can join us on TikTok at Telesur English where you find news in different formats, news updates and much more.
17:07We will be right back. Stay with us.
17:19Welcome back to From the South. We go to Venezuela. The President, Nicolás Maduro, denounced the United States' intention to seize the oil reserves of the Bolivarian territory through military force.
17:28In a letter sent to the Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Export in countries, OPEC, and its member nations as well as those of OPEC+, President Maduro said that since mid-August of this year, President Donald Trump has carried out a campaign of harassment and threats against Venezuela that clearly undermines regional and international peace, security and stability.
17:53The President emphasized that this intention not only violates provisions that promote peaceful coexistence among nations, but also endangers the stability of Venezuelan oil production and the international market.
18:06In addition, Nicolás Maduro reaffirmed that Venezuela will firmly defend its natural energy resources and will not succumb to blackmail or threats.
18:15When we stay in Venezuela, the President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, reiterated his rejection of extrajudicial executions of Venezuelans by U.S. military personnel in the Caribbean Sea.
18:30In this regard, Jorge Rodriguez reported that a meeting was held with the families of the Venezuelans who were extrajudicially murdered in the Caribbean.
18:41He also announced that on December 1, a special session of the National Assembly will be held for the purpose of establishing a working group comprising members of Parliament who will investigate these murders.
18:52Rodriguez also confirmed that the entire U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean is a violation of international law, as well as navigation and maritime laws.
19:05And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief. Remember, you can find these and many other stories on our website at TelesurEnglish.net.
19:15Also join us on social media. We are on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and Tintoc as well.
19:22For Telesur English, I'm Alejandra Garcia. Thank you for watching.
Be the first to comment