Honduran opposition presidential candidate Nasry Asfura vowed to forge closer ties with the US, restore relations with Taiwan and capitalize on the skills of returning migrants to revitalize the economy.
The markedly pro-US platform of the conservative presidential hopeful would undo the leftist policies of incumbent president Xiomara Castro, reinforcing a right-wing lurch across Latin America. Rather than condemn the Trump administration’s deportations of migrants as Castro has done, Asfura is promoting a full-throated embrace in the name of economic opportunity. ?
Asfura, a former mayor of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa who lost to Castro in the 2021 presidential race, said migrants come home with skills in construction and agriculture in addition to capital to start their own businesses.
Photo: AFP
“I am not wishing for our countrymen to be deported, but there is an opportunity here,” Asfura said in an interview from Washington, DC, where he met with investors, think tanks and congressional staffers. “They return with capital and significant work experience, and they are a powerful source of small and medium business owners.”
Asfura pledged to slash regulations to allow returning migrants to speed up registration of new businesses and ease their access to credit. His administration would also encourage foreign private investment in large infrastructure projects that would leverage their talents.
“We have to find ways to generate opportunities for them,” Asfura said.
His government would seek to attract US multinationals to upgrade ports on the Central American country’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts, build a railway system to connect them and expand highways to boost the volume of global trade that transits Honduras, he said. Among his proposed investment projects are a regional gas pipeline and other infrastructure to diversify the energy mix away from bunker fuel.
Asfura would seek to cap US trade tariffs on Honduras at 10%, which he said is a level low enough to remain competitive over countries like Mexico and Brazil, where Trump is threatening a 50% tariff.
In line with his Trump-adjacent policies, Asfura would move Honduras closer to Taiwan at the expense of China. The Castro administration established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 2023, cutting off ties with Taipei. Asfura promised to review the agreements the government signed with China and said the country was “100 times better off” when it had relations with Taiwan, receiving more aid and trade than it does from China.
“I have a clear triangle in mind: the United States, Israel and Taiwan,” Asfura said. “With that triangle of friendly countries, we can build a great team that will create solutions for the country.”
The Honduran economy is forecast to grow 3.3% this year and 3.4% in 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund. The Castro government signed an $850 million program with the IMF in 2023 and completed the program’s third review in June. Moody’s affirmed the country’s credit rating this month at B1 with a stable outlook, citing reduced public debt.
The Central American country will hold its presidential election on November 30 and the candidate with the most votes will win. Castro is not eligible for reelection. Her leftist Libre party nominated defense minister and former finance minister Rixi Moncada as its candidate. Sportscaster Salvador Nasralla, a centrist former vice president and the runner-up in the 2017 elections, is also competing to succeed Castro.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
RSS