Tegucigalpa: Xiomara Castro was sworn in as Honduras’s first female president on Thursday, with US Vice President Kamala Harris who was present, because the government faced tests on Congress and relations divided by China.
Castro, flanked by her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, and their children, inaugurated at the opened open soccer stadium, his supporters danced and shouted.
He smiled broadly when the blue and white president’s sling was wrapped in his chest.
“The economic disaster that I am inherited is incomparable in the history of our country,” Castro said gloomy in his first address, denounced a seven-fold leap in his debt under two conservative predecessors.
He said it was “practically impossible” to make debt payments today without restructuring.
The total debt of the country reached $ 15.5 billion, or nearly 60% of gross domestic product, Castro’s economic problems were often highlighted in the campaign trace ahead of the landslide election victory in November.
“My government will not continue Maelstrom looting which has condemned the generation of young people to pay debts that they arise behind them,” he added applause.
He also vowed to give more than 1 million free Hondurans electricity, with greater consumers subsidizing costs.
A few minutes earlier, the crowd roared his approval after Harris, who had been assigned by President Joe Biden to lead US policy in the poor North American triangle, was introduced.
“Our relationship with Honduras is important,” Harris wrote on Twitter before, adding that he would hold talks with Castro.
The presence of Harris is famous, because lower rank officials usually lead a US delegation like that.
US officials want to work with Castro to curb illegal immigration from Central America and sustain international support for Taiwan as part of its efforts to influence China.
Honduras is one of the few countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei instead of Beijing.
Castro assumed the office was involved in a dispute with dissidents in his own party.
The rival candidate has declared themselves the Chief of the Congress, undermines his ability to pass legislation.
Vice President Taiwan William Lai also attended the inauguration in an effort to improve relations with Honduras under Castro which during his election campaign threatened to turn to Beijing if elected.
Harris greeted Lai during the inauguration, a White House official said.
Luis Leon, director of the Dutch Institute for multiparty democracy in Central America, said Harris’s arrival was a boost for Castro in disputes about the control of Congress and in overcoming the weak economic Honduras.
The US government recognizes Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of his area even though it does not support this attitude.
The United States does not have a formal diplomatic bond with Taiwan.
Harris was assigned to overcome the “root cause” of Central American migration, but his journey came when the popularity of Biden at home had diminished and the immigration strategy stopped.
During his meeting with Castro, Harris would discuss economic opportunities, the war against corruption and manage migration, US officials said.
“We really want and intend to do what we can to support this new president,” said an administrative official.
Castro, who described himself as a democratic socialist, has vowed to overcome corruption, poverty and violence, chronic problems that have helped the waves of US bound migrant fuel, and on Thursday pointing several members of the main cabinet.
But the legislative program was threatened by the Renegade politician from the Libre Libre Party, which during the weekend was allied with the conservative national opposition party to choose one of its members to lead the Congress.
It has created a rival legislature and violates the pact that has been carried out libre with the main election allies, the Salvador Party was founded by his first vice president, to appoint one of the last members to lead the Congress.
Castro and the rest from his party have recognized a member of the Salvador parliament as a legitimate leader of the Congress.
Castro’s inauguration ended the eight-year government of Juan Orlando Conservative National Party, who had been accused of in the US court corruption and relations with drug traders, the accusations that had repeatedly refused.