From a first lady... to the country's first female president

Honduran's elected leader embraced politics after overthrowing her husband, the president

• New Honduran President Chiomara Castro.

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• Election campaign for President Chiomara Castro.

  Reuters

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When Chiomara Castro led a march through the Honduran capital in 2009, demanding the return of her husband, who had been ousted in a military coup, to power, it was the first time she was in the political spotlight.

Now, ready to take center stage as Honduran's first female president, this former first lady has promised a radical agenda to counter years of corruption and scandal-plagued rule.

Castro, the democratic socialist, was inaugurated yesterday, after winning a landslide victory in the presidential elections in November 2021, as her party, the Party for Freedom and Reestablishment (Liber) won the vote by more than 14 points over her nearest challenger, Nasri Asfoura, mayor Capital and candidate for the National Party led by outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Castro received 51% of the vote and 1.7 million votes, the largest number of votes in the country's history, confirming the public's desire for change.

The 62-year-old promised in her campaign to fight corruption, alleviate poverty and liberalize abortion laws, but recent change within Castro's own party may mean she may not be able to deliver on that agenda.

watershed moment

Born in the capital, Tegucigalpa, Castro devoted her early years to family life, married businessman and politician Manuel Zelaya at the age of 19, and took care of their four children while he ran his business.

When Zelaya took office in January 2006, Castro had no other political ambitions than to accompany him and support his work, said sociologist Julio Rodales of the National Autonomous University of Honduras, where she played an active role in social programs that included early education, initiatives and action. Advocacy to combat the acquired immunodeficiency virus (AIDS).

The year 2009 marked the turning point in her life forever, when her husband was kidnapped by army officers from his home in a coup against a planned referendum on constitutional reform that would allow the president to be re-elected for a second term.

He was taken to Costa Rica in his pajamas.

When he returned in May 2011, he founded the Freedom Party.

US President Barack Obama described the country's turmoil as a step backward from "the tremendous progress of the past twenty years in consolidating democratic traditions in Latin America."

Meanwhile, Castro assumed leadership of the resistance movement demanding Zelaya's return.

From that incident, her political life was shaped.

• Castro was born in the capital, Tegucigalpa, and devoted her early years to family life. She married businessman and politician Manuel Zelaya at the age of nineteen, and took care of their four children while he was running his business.

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