"When you see your neighbor's beard trimmed, soak your own," goes the old saying. And it might even seem cabalistic that Honduras, along with six other countries, abstained from voting in the Organization of American States (OAS) on the resolution declaring Nicaragua's Nov. 7 elections illegitimate, just a few days before Hondurans elect their next president, among other officials.
Exactly 13 days remain until "The" election that could mark the destiny of Honduras takes place. However, the political violence has not stopped. Just this Sunday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed its "concern" about the violent deaths recorded in recent hours in the Central American country.
"We note with concern the violent deaths in the electoral context of the current mayor and candidate of the municipality of Cantarranas, Francisco Gaitán; the local leader of San Luis, Santa Bárbara, Elvir Casaña; and Luis Gustavo Castellanos, of San Jerónimo, Copán," the organization said on its Twitter account.
He added that since the call for primary elections, there have been at least 28 deaths in the context of political violence.
The OHCHR condemned the acts of electoral violence that affect the right to political participation and called on the actors involved to conduct peaceful elections with respect for human rights.
"We sympathize with the victims and their families and call on the authorities to carry out prompt, thorough and impartial investigations to identify and punish those responsible," he said.
Honduras knows about electoral fraud. In 2014 Juan Orlando Hernández came to power, and just one year later he implemented a constitutional reform to make his re-election possible.
For 2017, general elections were held again to choose who would be in power for 4 years (time established by the Honduran constitution), however, these were marked by three key points: the first, that opponents of Hernandez, accused him of molding the institutions to stay in office; the second, that on election day the results changed trend after a "blackout", giving as winner again to Juan Orlando; and the third, that 33 demonstrators died in the protests that followed.
All of this, after the country experienced one of its darkest moments, since only in 2009, it suffered a coup d'état. From then on, the die was cast. The country has suffered serious damage to its economy, job creation, health - which has been aggravated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic - education, migration, and a host of other problems that go from one end to the other in the country, which, according to various rankings in the world, has two of the most dangerous cities in the world: Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula.
According to the National Violence Observatory-IUDPAS/UNAH-Honduras, homicides have been "the form of violence most used against political actors in Honduras".
According to the Center for the Study of Democracy in Honduras (CESPAD?), since the call for the primary elections until October 25, there have been 27 deaths, 18 cases of coercion, 11 attacks, six threats, one kidnapping and one coercion.
Of the incidents reported, he said in a statement, 36 were committed with firearms.
They also highlighted that, to date, and according to IUDPAS data, 36.0 percent of the victims have been militants: 13 leaders and 10 and sympathizers.
In light of this, CESPAD has made an urgent call for the urgent need for "the electoral institutions to work to at least try to prevent violence from continuing to threaten the electoral process.
The National Electoral Council (CNE), they said, should make use of the regulations that allow it to establish administrative sanctions for those who provoke violence and verbal expressions of hatred and offense.
In addition, the CNE's initiative of a Peace Pact, signed by all political parties participating in the electoral contest, should be expressly implemented, with the aim of discouraging and neutralising political violence.
The organization also stated that the justice system should act independently and efficiently in the investigation and prosecution of acts of political violence, since impunity, i.e. the lack of punishment, is the main stimulus for this phenomenon.
"CESPAD expresses its deep concern about the current climate of political violence, because it does not contribute to the democratic process and, on the contrary, discourages citizen participation, and thus weakens the citizen's right to vote in a peaceful and trustworthy environment," they said.
The coming storm
The National Electoral Council of Honduras has deemed that everything is on schedule for the general elections to be conducted properly, however, and "in theory" guarantees that the elections will be clean and smooth.
This was said to this media the counselor Rixi Moncada, of the CNE, institution created in 2019 and that will be in charge for the first time of these elections.
When questioned about whether these will be clean elections, the councilor stressed that "formally yes", since "the full councilors have worked with hundreds of obstacles these two years and a month, to have an electoral process different from that of 2013 and 2017".
He also said that in order to achieve elections of real change, the Council administers, organizes and guarantees to arrive on election day with the electoral material in each of the polling stations, despite the fact that conditions in the country are "quite complex".
However, the official said that the key and most difficult moments of the elections will take place after the polls close, since the counting will begin, and by the night of November 28th, Rixi will be the one to give the preliminary results, and from there, anything could happen.
Violence, Drugs, and Elections: Together and Hand in Hand
Nothing is simple in these elections. Earlier this month, Honduran authorities arrested presidential candidate Santos Rodríguez Orellana, a retired army captain accused of laundering drug money and participating in homicides, including an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
This is not the only case, because just a few weeks ago, authorities raided properties belonging to the mayor of the municipality of Talanga, department of Francisco Morazán, Roosevelt Eduardo Avilez López, by the Directorate for the Fight against Drug Trafficking (DLCN) for alleged money laundering.
Avilez could not justify more than 160 million lempiras - a little more than 6.5 million dollars - in relation to the amount he earns as income, while his wife, Nancy Mareyil Santos Ríos - also detained - was found to have another 150 million lempiras - 6.1 million dollars - that could not be credited either.
The coin is in the air, and in the meantime we can only hope that, with all the scenarios, the "perfect storm" is not generated and triggers a post-electoral terror.
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