Tables Turn Back to Conservative Control in Honduras | The Lighthouse

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Just two and a half months after taking office, on the heels of a disputed election marred by allegations of fraudcongressional allies of Trump-backed President Nasry “Tito” Asfura has already removed a wave of officials from the former ruling Libre party.

Honduras does not have a deep tradition of non-partisan civil service. The three main parties in the country have spent years splitting up top institutions, brushing off allegations of foul play. Now, that three-way push and pull appears to be broken.

At the top of the list is Attorney General Johel Zelaya, who was illegally appointed in 2023 by Libre after months of haggling with their opponents. Now, he was on the receiving end of irregularities, removed from office in an express impeachment.

That removal was quickly followed up by that of Libre’s representative to the National Electoral Council, Marlon Ochoa, who played a key role in the Libre party’s narrative of fraud in the last elections and in some delays in the process. Ochoa left the country in late March.

The National and Liberal Parties in Congress then turned their attention to Electoral Tribunal Judge Mario Morazana Libre appointee accused of maliciously breaking quorum during key election decisions by withdrawing from votes.

Next came Raquel Obando, president of the Supreme Court of Justice, who resigned before an impeachment process could reveal her, too. She stayed on as a lower-ranking magistrate.

Now the legislature is preparing to select the replacements. A two-thirds majority of 86 out of 128 votes are required to appoint them, and the National Party and Liberal Party representatives alone account for 90.

Two-party rule

For decades, that same conservative two-party system governed Honduras. Former President Manuel “Mel” Zelaya’s rise to power in 2005 with—and later defection from—one of those parties, the Liberals, shook that balance.

The two-party establishment claimed the president wanted to hold onto power through a controversial referendum known as the “Fourth Ballot Box.” They launched an illegal military-backed coup d’état and ousted Zelaya.

Two years later, in 2011, Zelaya and allies founded Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) in “resistance” to the coup. A decade later, Free came to power with Zelaya’s wife, the former First Lady Xiomara Castro.

Libre spent only one term in power from 2022 to 2026, marked by deadlock and bitter tensions within their own partywith the opposition, and with civil society groups, who viewed them as reneging on anti-corruption promises.

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The recent wave of impeachment proceedings shows a strategy by the resurgent National Party to regain control of institutions.

“The politicians are removing those officials most closely linked to the previous government from all institutions, replacing them with people from either the National or Liberal Parties,” says prominent attorney Joaquín Mejía, a researcher with ERIC, of ​​the Society of Jesus in Honduras.

Some Honduran civil society organizations filed on the impeachment proceedings as necessary to defend the rule of law. But the Inter-American Court of Human Rights says they ran contrary to international standards.

Another 19 international human rights organizations called the impeachments “inconsistent with international human rights standards and within a context of high institutional polarization due to the recent change in government.”

Attorney General Johel Zelaya’s removal was practically a done deal in two days. “In less than 48 hours, the complaint was admitted, witnesses for the prosecution were heard without allowing cross-examination, and they recommended my removal,” Zelaya posted on X.

“The votes are counted by raising hands, and that does not necessarily guarantee transparency,” noted Cristian Nolasco, head of the strategic communications unit at the National Anti-Corruption Council.

The National Anti-Corruption Council and its director, Gabriela Castellanos, were a prominent voice backing the impeachments, pointing to irregularities during the 2025 electoral process.

“The last government didn’t close its doors at first, but did later,” Nolasco told El Faro English. “This government keeps them completely open, but based on past experiences, we run the risk that they’ll eventually close them, too.”

“A new era here to stay”

In his first months in office, Asfura and allies have spent no time in signaling a shift back to old religious-conservative overtones of official prayers, and a failed attempt in February to legislate mandatory Bible reading in schools.

Hanging over the new administration is the long shadow of former president and National Party boss Juan Orlando Hernández, who Trump pardoned days before the election in November.

“Right now, the hard core of the old Hernández government are the ones in control, and Asfura is at a disadvantage,” says Mejía. “At first, (Asfura) tried to distance himself, but now (Hernández’s people) are taking the lead.”

One point of continuity between the two men are ties to Trump and Israel, both of whom Asfura you have already visitedbreaking with Castro’s sometimes anti-imperialist rhetoric.

Asfura was invited to Trump’s Shield of the Americas Summit and has discussed cooperation on drug trafficking and gangs.

The Honduran president, along with Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, is one of two Central American heads of state of Palestinian descent.

“He betrayed his people and closely aligned himself with Israel — as an example of the levels of moral decay,” Mejía said.

During this visit in January with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President-elect Asfura agreed to strengthen relations once he took office, stemming confrontations with the Libre government over the genocide in Gaza.

Asfura is also keeping the private sector close. “We reached agreements that will be implemented gradually to open doors to both imports and exports with the United States,” Finance Minister Emilio Hernández told EFE.

Mejía notes the Castro administration “had closer ties to the Cortés Chamber of Commerce and Industry, but not to COHEP,” the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise. But in February, Asfura appointed Gustavo Solorzano, COHEP’s Legal Affairs Manager, to a top banking post.

After election day, as El Faro English reported on private negotiations between parties to avoid violence and finalize the results, Solórzano rebuffed reports that COHEP itself was negotiating with the candidates.

El Faro English contacted Solórzano, COHEP, and presidential appointee María Antonieta Mejía for this article, but they did not grant interviews.

“We’re not facing a simple change of government, but a change of era — and this era is here to stay,” Mejía concludes.

This article first appeared in the El Faro English newsletter. Subscribe here for more journalism translating Central America.