US President Donald Trump intervened directly in the Honduran election on Wednesday by expressing his support for National Party candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, intensifying Washington’s meddling ahead of the elections on Sunday, November 30.
In a message posted on his social media account, Truth Social, Trump called Asfura “the only true friend of freedom in Honduras” and warned against a potential victory for Rixi Moncada, candidate of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre).
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“Tito was the successful mayor of Tegucigalpa, where he brought clean water to millions of people and paved hundreds of miles of roads,” Trump emphasized, adding, “Tito and I can work together to fight the narco-communists and provide the necessary aid to the Honduran people.”
The US president framed the issue as a scenario of ideological alignment, stating that if Moncada wins, “the alleged narco-terrorists of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will take control of another country, just as they did with Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.” In that context, he reiterated that “Tito Asfura is the one who defends democracy and fights against Maduro.”
Trump also referred to the third-place candidate in the polls, Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, whom he accused of trying to “split Asfura’s vote.” “Nasralla is no friend of freedom. Almost a communist, he helped [current president] Xiomara Castro by running as her vice president. He won and helped Castro win. Then he resigned and now pretends to be anti-communist,” the US president stated, concluding that “he cannot be trusted.”
Trump’s message represents Washington’s most forceful intervention in the Honduran election campaign, although it is not the first. Previously, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Christopher Landau warned that the Trump Administration would respond “swiftly and firmly to any attack on the integrity of the democratic process in Honduras.”
Furthermore, days earlier, US Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, representing Florida, warned Honduras about the risks to its democracy and called on citizens “not to vote for communism” during a session of the US Congress.
Rixi Moncada Rejects Trump’s Interference
In this context, Rixi Moncada, the Libre Party candidate, rejected on Wednesday the accusations of being a “communist” made by Donald Trump and warned of a possible “trap” in the transmission of preliminary results by the Honduran National Electoral Council.
“They call me a communist to hide the truth: they fear the democratization of the economy, they are terrified of the Tax Justice Law; and they want money to remain a privilege for ten families and not a right for the people,” stated the candidate and former Honduran Secretary of National Defense.
Furthermore, Rixi Moncada called on the Honduran people to protect their vote and affirmed that the Honduran two-party system has been defeated.
The recordings, disseminated through the media, reveal a network of pressure, irregular negotiations, and illegal coordination aimed at sabotaging the elections, altering the results, and preventing another popular victory that would further the country’s transformation, initiated by the Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre) and its supporters.
The leak confirms the existence of a political-business network that had been flagged weeks ago based on 26 audio recordings currently under investigation. Among the most implicated voices in the recordings is Cossette López, who appears as a key figure connecting members of parliament, military operatives, businesspeople, and other officials within the electoral system. The authenticity of these recordings was confirmed by an international expert analysis.
