Trump, Honduras, and the Monroe Doctrine 2.0 |
The outcome of Honduras’ recent presidential election, in which Nasry Asfura was declared the winner, has been described as both a domestic political turning point and a referendum on relations with Taiwan and China. In reality, it is also a case study in how the United States is reasserting influence in Latin America through overt political signaling, and how that strategy intersects with great power competition involving Beijing and Taipei.
Few episodes illustrate this dynamic more clearly than the role played by U.S. President Donald Trump in the Honduran electoral process.
Just days before Hondurans went to the polls, Trump issued a presidential pardon to Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former Honduran president who had been sentenced in the United States to 45 years in prison on drug trafficking and firearms charges. The timing was impossible to ignore. Hernandez belonged to the National Party, the same party as presidential candidate Nasry Asfura, and the pardon was widely interpreted inside Honduras as a clear political signal rather than a legal gesture detached from current events.
That signal became explicit days later. Trump publicly endorsed Asfura, praised his candidacy, and framed his rivals, including Salvador Nasralla and Rixi Moncada, as untrustworthy and aligned with communism. After the election, as disputes emerged over the recount of thousands of ballots with reported........