To Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P]
Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Given the political situation in Honduras, especially 12 years after the coup d’état, the conditions in the country are quite complex, so the guarantee of holding clean elections on November 28 can only be ensured in a “formal” way.
This was stated by Roxi Moncada, a member of the National Electoral Council of Honduras, a body that has only been in existence for a little over two years and whose main function is to organize, administer and guarantee that elections can be held on election day, which, in the words of the official herself, will determine the destiny of the country for the next decade.
In an exclusive interview with P360P, the official said that, during the last two years, the councilors of the "autonomous" organization have worked "with hundreds of obstacles" to have an electoral process different from those of 2013 or 2017, the latter especially accused of being fraudulent after, following a "blackout," Juan Orlando Hernández was reelected as president.
Moncada explained that the fact that the elections this Sunday will be carried out in a clean manner and with the full popular will will only be seen on election day.
"We are all obliged to do so. The members of the receiving board are public officials and assume a responsibility to the State of Honduras. But this is a State that collapsed after the coup d'état, which has formal authorities, constitutional institutions, buildings, appointed officials, but it is a State without justice and where the rights formally guaranteed are in practice a real tragedy," he stressed.
Neither forgiveness nor forgetfulness
And, he said, there are obstacles inherent to the electoral exercise, in a country where a violent coup d'état took place more than a decade ago, but where an "authority" was finally established, so to speak.
More than 10 years after the coup, impunity and the exercise of authority continue, despite the fact that at the grassroots level people have resisted all this time.
And the changes that have occurred "have been the result of pressure from the people who remain in resistance, the result of pressure from international organizations, the result of pressure from democratic entities that had no choice but to condemn the crime that occurred and that have exerted pressure after the elections of 2013 and 2017 to advance the democratic process," the official stressed.
He added that the only possibility for the State to rebuild itself from its democratic base is through elections, electoral institutions, electoral power, "and in the face of this pressure, this electoral power is then rebuilt and in the form. It is rebuilt with a new scheme of political integration."
Obstacles to electoral exercise have ranged, he said, from budget control to the "economic bleeding" of the institutions that guarantee the exercise of democracy.
Thus, there are historical events and milestones that cannot be separated from the current situation, "because they have been marking it for the past 12 years." And, currently, the main challenge is that, in the more than 18 thousand polling stations, on Sunday, November 28, there is at least one ballot box, the ballots of the three levels, and that there is a polling station integrated in the manner established by the new Honduran electoral law.
«We hope that each polling station that is integrated into each voting center throughout the country understands that its civic commitment, its formal and legal commitment, its constitutional commitment, is not only to an organization that directs the election at the top level, but to the citizens themselves who are going to cast the most sacred thing they have, their will, their vote.»
Political violence
It is a fact that political violence has increased in Honduras as election day approaches. And while it is true that this phenomenon is not new, the problem has worsened and intensified since the coup d'état.
«It is a political violence that has an important historical break since June 28, 2009. We cannot evaluate the events in the same way from that date backwards. A political violence that in large part worsened in the 2013 election, and that continued its course of worsening in the 2017 elections, where at least 22 young people, who were investigated and whose own body spoke, were killed with official bullets.»
This violence, he also said, has permeated from state institutions to the neighborhood, colony, village or hamlet level.
Broken trust
The hours are already counting down to the start of the most anticipated day in this country after the fraud of 2017. And at this point, there is not much hope on the part of the people that their true will will be respected. However, they hope that, with the arrival of electoral observers from various countries, as well as the eyes of governments such as that of the United States and after failed elections in the sister country of Nicaragua, the situation will change.
"I cannot demand that the people have confidence," said Rixi Moncada. He clarified that the issue of confidence "is not built with words, it is concluded with actions."
He added that, "The only thing I can guarantee to the Honduran people and to society in general is what I have said from the first day, that I assume this position with full and absolute responsibility and conviction that the country requires a change in the sense of truth to build trust, to ensure that, without distinction of political parties, organizations or ideological conception, is to be eyes, ears and voice of what is produced here, actions or omissions that have to do with the guarantee of the result».
"Society, political parties, the Honduran people, the international community, and observers will know. Your servant is committed to the truth and to building institutionality from the base, through trust, not in words, but in action," she said.
In this regard, he pointed out that the Council has had attempts at direct intervention from the legislative and executive branches, which have been denounced at the time.
The official did not guarantee that the system would not "crash" again, as this is no longer in her hands when there is interference of another kind.
"We are prepared for the contingencies inherent in the organization and administration of an electoral process that involves the country's 18 departments and 298 municipalities. We are ready for the contingency of managing and directing the electoral process, and ensuring that all the equipment is available on election day, but no one ever prepares for crimes, and you can never be prepared for contingencies that go beyond the democratic framework and order."
Youth vote, a vote of hope
For these elections, the electoral official hopes that the people will go to the polls peacefully and that there will be a participation of at least 70 percent of the electorate. However, she knows that the voting power may lie with the young people, who today, more than ever, are concerned about the democratic, economic, political and social future of Honduras.
«The youth vote sends shivers down my spine! I feel a much greater commitment to the youth vote than to the vote of my generation, who have had to hold up a political banner, especially after the coup d'état.» It is precisely to this Honduran youth that he called on to vote this coming Sunday.Let's define our destiny together. Please, let's all go to the polls, let's leave the comfort of the spaces where we are and, even in the most difficult conditions of survival, let's all go to the polls so that we can define our political and life destiny for the next decade.».
Offline
At the end of the interview, the camera was still recording. But Roxi made it clear, at that moment, that she was not afraid of the threats that have come and could come after the preliminary results that will be given on the afternoon of November 28. A date that will mark the destiny of a country that every day faces an unprecedented departure by citizens who, in search of a better life and security, leave with pain the country where they were born and venture on a journey of days to reach, in their best wish, the United States.
Rixie Moncada experienced firsthand the need to flee. After the coup d'état, she had to walk for more than 13 hours and cross mountains, with the military behind her, to take refuge in Nicaragua.
However, he is confident that the pressure from the international community and the people in the streets will change a fate that has been plagued by violence and drug trafficking.
Watch the interview here:
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