Trump administration signals support for Honduran ruling

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration signaled support Wednesday for the incumbent president in Honduras in his much-disputed re-election bid, backing a longtime U.S. ally in Central America.

After initially saying it was awaiting a report by the Organization of American States, which monitored the election, the Trump administration has decided to disregard that group’s call for a new election because of widespread irregularities in the Nov. 26 vote.

Instead, Washington has sided with the Honduran Supreme Election Tribunal and decided to recognize conservative President Juan Orlando Hernandez over his rival, Salvador Nasralla, whose coalition includes Honduran leftists.

The Trump administration had given tentative support to Hernandez on Monday but noted that under Honduran law the tribunal’s ruling opened a five-day period for people to register objections. On Wednesday, a senior State Department official said U.S. diplomats had seen no “credible evidence” to dispute Hernandez’s victory.

The official said the Honduran election tribunal gave Hernandez a margin of victory of 1.6 percentage points, and the U.S. will make a final determination after the five-day period ends Friday.

Mexico echoed the United States and congratulated Hernandez, who has been an ally of Washington.

Initial returns had put Nasralla ahead of Hernandez. Then the election tribunal, led by Hernandez allies, went silent for more than 24 hours. When it began releasing results again, Hernandez soon moved into the lead.