Honduras President Begins Second Term Amid Controversy.

AutorRodriguez, George

As if following a script, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez's swearing-in for his second term in office took place on Jan. 27 in a militarized setting, with thousands of cheering sympathizers, while soldiers and police gassed opposition demonstrators nearby.

The ceremony at the Tiburcio Carfas Andino Stadium, named after the military dictator who ruled this country for 16 years between 1933 and 1949, took place in the midst of a political crisis unleashed by the results of the presidential vote in the Nov. 26 general elections, which Hernandez won, according to the results released by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) (NotiCen, Dec. 7, 2017).

The center-left opposition alliance, the Alianza de Oposicion Contra la Dictadura, rejected the official figures and accused the TSE of having committed election fraud in favor of the incumbent, Hernandez, who heads the ruling Partido Nacional (National Party, PN) (NotiCen, Jan. 11, 2018).

During the campaign, the Alianza had also challenged the legitimacy of a ruling by the constitutional chamber of the country's highest court, the Corte Suprema de Justicia, that lifted the so-called iron-clad constitutional ban on presidential reelection.

Knowing Hernandez's second consecutive swearing-in would be marked by a massive protest, the stadium in Tegucigalpa, the country's capital, was protected by a major-scale security operation, with hundreds of troops from the military and the police.

Traffic was not allowed for blocks around the stadium, and the only people permitted inside the sports center were hundreds of duly identified, slogan-chanting, flag-waving PN militants, known as cachurecos.

Tear gas against protesters

Meanwhile, an opposition march, headed by Salvador Nasralla, the losing presidential candidate, and by the Alianza's coordinator, former Honduran President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya (2006-2009), tried to reach the stadium and prevent Hernandez's swearing in. The demonstrators were tear-gassed by military and police personnel.

"The policemen and the soldiers are not to blame," Nasralla said of the police action. "They've only received orders, after receiving money to charge against the people." But he called the Honduran Army "cowardly."

Hernandez, for his part, struck a highly optimistic note. Shrugging off the opposition alliance's accusations of fraud and illegitimacy, he delivered an inaugural speech that highlighted his accomplishments, which include, he said, having reached...

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