: Honduras’ First Female President Promises Reform – but Already Faces a Political Crisis #WorldNEWS (TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras) — Hondurans saw Xiomara Castro sworn in as their country’s

Honduras’ First Female President Promises Reform – but Already Faces a Political Crisis #WorldNEWS
(TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras) — Hondurans saw Xiomara Castro sworn in as their country’s first female president Thursday amid a sea of waving flags in the national stadium.
Castro blasted the outgoing administration for leaving her a heavily indebted country where poverty and a lack of opportunity have driven hundreds of thousands of Hondurans to migrate in recent years.
“My government will not continue the vortex that has condemned generations of young people to pay the debt taken on behind their backs,” Castro said.
“We have the duty to restore the economic sector on the basis of transparency, efficiency, production, social justice, wealth distribution and national revenue,” she said.
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The 62-year-old Castro faces high expectations to turn around the deeply troubled country amid uncertainty about whether an unfolding legislative crisis will allow her the support she needs.
Relatively smooth elections and a healthy margin of victory Nov. 28 came as a relief, but political maneuvering in the run-up to Castro’s inauguration has muddled the outlook and distracted from what was to be a hopeful new beginning after the two terms of President Juan Orlando Hernández.
Honduras has been engulfed by a dispute over who will lead the newly elected Congress. Two congressional leadership teams have been selected — neither legitimately according to experts — and their standoff threatens legislative paralysis at a time that Castro desperately needs to quickly get to work addressing Honduras’ problems.
Elected lawmakers from Castro’s own Liberty and Refoundation Party backed one of their own to be the new legislative body’s president Friday rather than support Castro’s choice, which had been agreed with her vice president to win his party’s support. Neither group backed down leading to surreal simultaneous legislative sessions Tuesday.
High unemployment, persistent violence, corruption as well as troubled health care and educational systems are just some of the pressing challenges awaiting Castro.
The United States government, seeing an opportunity to gain an ally in a region with few friends, has strongly backed Castro and stands ready to provide support. In a possible sign of tensions in the region, presidents from neighbors El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua were not scheduled to attend.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who was given the task of addressing the challenge of Central American migration, met with Castro shortly after the inauguration ceremony.
The two discussed “the root causes of migration, combatting corruption and expanding economic opportunity,” according to a statement from Harris’ office.