Trump accuses Honduras of trying to change the election result and warns of a “high price to pay”

The presidential election held in Honduras on Sunday (30) revealed a tight dispute and generated strong international and internal criticism, following accusations of irregularities in the counting. The candidate supported by Donald Trump, Nasry Asfura — nicknamed “Tito” — led the initial count, but with an extremely narrow margin and under suspicion of manipulation.

Days before the vote, Trump openly expressed support for Asfura, classifying his opponents as “communists” and stating that the United States would withdraw aid and cooperation if they won. He also promised to pardon former president Juan Orlando Hernández — convicted in the US of drug trafficking — if Asfura won. According to international analysts, the gesture reinforced perceptions of direct US interference in the Honduran electoral process.

The climate of distrust increased with the halt in the official transmission of the results. The website of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Honduras went offline amid the count — a problem classified as “technical”. From then on, the authorities opted for a manual count, which increased the fear of fraud and questions about the fairness of the election.

With 57% of the minutes counted, the difference between Asfura, in first place, and Salvador Nasralla (Liberal Party), in second, was 515 votes, which ended up generating the public declaration of a “technical tie” by the president of the CNE, Ana Paola Hall. This scenario led to consultations on the validity of the counting mechanisms and increased domestic and international pressure for the count to take place in a transparent manner.

A few days earlier, government candidate Rixi Moncada had already warned of the risk of “external interference” and denounced US intervention in the process.

On Monday (1), Trump used Truth Social to launch a direct threat: if the result was manipulated, there would be “a high price to pay”. The aggressiveness of the statement reverberated on the international scene, raising the level of uncertainty and increasing suspicion of US intervention in Honduras.