Xiomara Castro becomes Honduras' first female president
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Loading... - Nicolas Stewart
- 28 Jan 2022
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Castro, a democratic socialist, won a landslide victory in last year's presidential election after campaigning on a radical agenda to counter years of governance plagued by corruption and scandal. She promised to alleviate poverty and liberalize abortion laws.
"Two hundred years have passed since our independence was proclaimed. We're breaking chains and we're breaking traditions," Castro said in her inauguration speech.
Castro's party, the Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre) won the November 2021 vote with a lead of more than 14 points over her nearest opponent, Nasry Asfura, the capital's mayor and candidate for outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernández's National Party.
Winning 51% of the vote share and 1.7 million votes, Castro garnered the largest number of votes in the country's history, underscoring the public's appetite for change.
Castro, 62, dedicated her early years to family life, marrying businessman and politician Manuel Zelaya at the age of 19 and raising their four children while managing his businesses, according her Libre Party website.
Zelaya was elected president of Honduras but was ousted in a 2009 military coup. Castro's political career began with her push to get her husband return to office, and in 2013 and 2017, she ran for president.
Castro's promise to stamp out the systemic problems behind poverty, including economic insecurity, inequality, corruption and violence -- some of the root causes of migration to the north -- is not only popular with the electorate, but has made her an attractive ally for US President Joe Biden's administration. Read More…
