The president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, took office for the second consecutive time on Saturday amid protests by the opposition, which continues to claim that there was a fraud in the controversial elections held in November.
Hernández received the presidential band in a session of the Congress in the National Stadium of the capital, full of supporters and strongly sheltered due to the opposition demonstrations in Tegucigalpa.
I promise to fulfill and enforce the Constitution and the laws,”
said the president, a 49-year-old lawyer, when he was sworn in again as head of the government of Honduras, an impoverished country hit by violence.
While his followers cheered him at the National Stadium, his opponents concentrated in the capital city of Miraflores, where they were cleared by the police with tear gas when they tried to march to the inauguration.
Hundreds of protesters were dispersed, hours later, by the police, who arrived with a tank and gases to repel the activists who threw rocks at them. The National Stadium was surrounded by several security rings with police and military located 500 meters around the sports venue.
In his speech, Hernández committed himself to improve security and invest more in health, education and employment, while calling his adversaries to a dialogue to overcome the polarization left by the electoral process.
Salvador Nasralla, who lost the presidency by a few points, supported Hernández’s invitation to the dialogue, but clarified that it should be done with a mediator who guarantees the fulfillment of the commitments agreed in said dialogue.
The dictatorship has been consolidated, it is a government that has the seals of the State but does not have legitimacy. It imposes itself in a savage manner with the military in the streets,”
said Bertha Oliva, coordinator of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras.