Canada Warns About Travel To Honduras As Post Election Protests Continue

Post election protests continue in Honduras. (Twitter image)

News Americas, TORONTO, Canada, Mon. Dec. 4, 2017: Canada’s government is warning its nationals to exercise a high degree of caution if traveling to the Central American nation of Honduras as thousands continued to protests the slow pace of the election results following the Sunday, Nov. 26th election general elections there.

“Exercise a high degree of caution in Honduras due to demonstrations following the November 26, 2017 elections, and violent crime,” the Canadian government statement of Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 warns.

It also advises Canadians to avoid all travel to Chamelecón, Choloma and Cofradía in the department of Cortés due to high levels of violence and crime.

Reports so far indicate that four people are dead and as many injured as the Honduran military shot live rounds of ammunition into the crowd of protesters. More than a week after the election, the winner of the presidential race has still not been declared by The Electoral Commission (TSE), which is controlled by the rightwing government of Juan Orlando Hernández.

The opposition Alliance leader, Salvador Nasralla, was five points ahead until a spate of irregularities including mysterious delays in rural votes and computer glitches saw his seemingly insurmountable lead overturned.

The last official count, including almost 95 percent of ballots cast, gave President Hernandez a narrow lead of about 1.5 percent over Nasralla, a charismatic television personality and relative political neophyte.

As such, thousands of Hondurans took to the streets protesting against the irregularities despite massive national police and military repression.

President Hernandez has reportedly fled the country to avoid violent street protests in the wake of the disputed presidential election, Diario La Prensa reported.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, meanwhile, has reprimanded the United States and Organization of the American States for their alleged complicity.

“Nearly a week since the Honduran elections, Why are the U.S. and OAS silently complicit regarding the elections and death of citizens in Honduras? Democracy is in danger in a neighboring country?,” he said.

Pope Francis says he is praying that Honduras can peacefully overcome a violent political crisis. Deadly protests have erupted in the Central American nation over a delayed vote count in a disputed presidential election.