Honduran presidential candidate to review US troops presence

TEGUCIGALPA: The Honduran presidential candidate leading after a partial count of votes said he would review whether to keep a base stationed with US troops if he wins the election, but also promised to deepen security co-operation.

Honduras has been slow to release the results of Sunday’s election. Although US-friendly President Juan Orlando Hernandez had been tipped to win, partial results show an upset, with gregarious television star Salvador Nasralla leading.

One of the poorest nations in the Americas with one of the world’s highest murder rates, Honduras has been blighted with years of gang violence. Nasralla has tapped into widespread disillusionment about the country’s future, particularly among young voters.

But his win is not yet certain. As results started flowing on Tuesday evening, Nasralla’s original five-point lead had narrowed to just over 1.5 percentage points, with about 72 percent of ballot boxes counted.

In a television interview on Tuesday evening, an angry Nasralla said the election was being stolen from him and urged his supporters to flock to the capital, Tegucigalpa, to protest.

In an earlier interview with Reuters on Tuesday, the 64-year-old Nasralla said, if he did triumph, he would talk to the United States about 500 US troops stationed at the Soto Cano air base, also known as Palmerola, two hours’ drive from Tegucigalpa.

“I need to see what benefit there is for Honduras from having a base like Palmerola,” Nasralla said.

The US presence was established in the 1980s to help the United States in its fight against left-wing insurgencies in Central America.

In 2008, former President Manuel Zelaya said he would turn the base into a civilian airport to serve the coffee-exporting country of 9 million people.

A year later, Zelaya was ousted in a coup that his ally, former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said was orchestrated from the base. US officials denied any involvement in the coup.

Nasralla, a self-described centrist, said he would deepen security ties with the administration of US President Donald Trump, and that Honduras would remain the United States’ best ally in Central America.

“When the United States passes me its list of people it wants to extradite ... I‘m not even going to look at it. I‘m simply going to sign it and give the order,” he said. “I‘m willing to extradite ex-presidents, lawmakers, ministers.”

Honduras is riddled with corruption that breeds on rampant impunity, drug trafficking and gang violence.