The crisis that broke out in the Honduran Congress with the appointment of two parallel directives ended this Monday with the signing of an agreement that recognizes as the sole leader of Parliament an ally of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro.
In the agreement, Jorge Calix, leader of the 17 dissident deputies of the ruling party Liberty and Refoundation party (Libre, left) and who achieved his election as head of Parliament with the support of the opposition, abandoned his aspirations by accepting that the Legislative be chaired by louis round, supported by loyal legislators and allies of Castro.
“Although at one point we do not share the proposed strategy (…) we are willing to respect the decision to support the deputy Luis Redondo Guifarro to chair the board of directors National Congress in compliance with the mandate of our president,” says the agreement.
“This server has decided to step aside, not thinking about my political career, simply thinking about what is best for the Honduran people at this time,” said Cálix after signing the agreement at the Presidential House.
The rebel deputies and the former president also signed the document. Manuel Zelaya, husband of Castro and coordinator of Libre. With this, they were readmitted into the ranks of the ruling party.
The crisis within Libre broke out on January 20, when Castro summoned the 50 deputies of his party to ask them to support Redondo as president of the Legislative Assembly, but not all agreed and a schism was generated.
Castro won the elections in alliance with the Salvador Party of Honduras (PSH). One of the commitments assumed was that the PSH would appoint the president of Congress, in this case Redondo.
“If the party that won the elections, which has 50 deputies, is not united in responding to the popular will with its constitutional president of the Republic, then the people are not with us,” said Zelaya, a former president who was overthrown in 2009 and who considers the victory of his wife as a claim to his proposals.
For his part, the opposition National Party (PN, right), “celebrated” the dialogue, but proposed that Redondo be ratified in a new vote.
The Honduran Congress is made up of 128 deputies: 50 from Libre, 10 from the PSH, 44 from the PN, 22 from the Liberal Party (PL, right) and two from two minority forces.
Due to the conflict in Congress, at the inauguration ceremony at the National Stadium on January 27, Castro was sworn in by a magistrate and not by Redondo as president of Congress, who only placed the sash on her.