Trial will not prompt clean-up of Honduran politics

Significance

The trial illustrated criminal infiltration across the political spectrum, with new claims emerging of bribes allegedly taken by Mauricio Villeda, the 2013 presidential candidate of the centre-right Liberal Party, and Carlos Zelaya, brother-in-law of President Xiomara Castro and congressman of her leftist Liberty and Refoundation (Libre).

Impacts

• Allegations of corruption against members of all three major political parties will depress voter turnout in 2025.
• Proposed reforms to elections, campaign finance laws and the penal code that could help clean up Honduran politics will continue to stall.
• The allegations against Zelaya could raise awkward questions for Moncada in election campaigning.