Xiomara Castro was sworn in as Honduras’s first female president on Thursday. That happened in the National Stadium in Tegucigalpa, in the presence of 30,000 spectators.
Four years after controversial elections, the Hondurans elected a new president at the end of November. Castro, a member of the left-wing Freedom Party, was the favourite. Incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernández failed to run for election after two consecutive terms. His conservative National Party is therefore sending the mayor of the capital Tegucigalpa, Nasry Asfura, into the field, but he had to give up.
Castro is the wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, who was removed from office in 2009.
After the 2017 presidential election, when Hernández was reelected by a very narrow majority, the opposition accused the government of electoral fraud. International observers also noted irregularities. The controversial ballot box sparked protests that left more than 20 dead.
Honduras suffers from poverty and violence from criminal gangs. In recent years, the country has experienced a massive wave of emigration to the United States.
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