Leftist leader presents opportunities for U.S.

TEGUCIGALPA — Honduras’ ruling party conceded defeat Tuesday in presidential elections held two days earlier, giving victory to leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro and easing fears of another contested vote and violent protests.

Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura, presidential candidate of the National Party, said in a statement that he had personally congratulated Castro, despite only about half the voting tallies being counted from Sunday’s election.

Castro’s leftist government could present challenges, but also opportunities for a Biden administration that has struggled with how to work on the country’s problems while keeping outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez at arm’s length.

There will be some painful history to overcome, primarily the U.S. government’s initial sluggishness in calling the ouster of Castro’s husband Manuel Zelaya in 2009 what it was — a coup — and then proceeding to work closely with conservative National Party presidents who followed. And from the U.S. perspective, how Castro and Zelaya cozied up to then-Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.

Among the first to congratulate Castro on her success — even before Honduran electoral authorities — were the presidents of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, three of the hemisphere’s leftist authoritarians.

Over the course of her campaign, Castro sent signals that she is interested in working with the U.S. And Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, visited Honduras last week ahead of the elections, sending a message that the U.S. remained interested in Honduras.

Common ground between Castro and the U.S. government exists in at least three key areas: immigration, drug trafficking and corruption. And with tense relations prevailing between Washington and the leaders of El Salvador and Guatemala, the U.S. government could use a productive relationship with Honduras.

Despite opponents’ efforts to paint Castro as a communist, experts expect her to govern as a centrist with a desire to lift up Honduras’ poor while attracting foreign investment.