Marco Rubio congratulates the President-elect of Honduras, Nasry Asfura | Election news
Washington’s top diplomat said he thanked Asfura, who was backed by Trump, for his “defense of America’s strategic objectives.”
Published on December 26, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Honduran President-elect Nasry Asfura, whom President Donald Trump supported, on his victory in the Central American country’s controversial election.
The State Department said Friday that Rubio and Asfura spoke in a collaborative phone call about issues including trade and security.
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“Secretary Rubio commended President-elect Asfura for his advocacy of U.S. strategic objectives, including advancing our bilateral and regional security cooperation and strengthening economic ties between our two countries,” the State Department said in a statement.
Asfura on Wednesday claimed a narrow victory in the November 30 elections marked by Trump’s intervention in his favor. Electoral authorities declared Asfura the winner after weeks of counting amid high tensions and allegations of fraud and irregularities by other candidates.
The right-wing Asfura party, representing the National Party, beat Salvador Nasralla of the center-right Liberal Party with 40.27 percent of the vote to Nasralla’s 39.53 percent.
“Today, with deep gratitude, I accept the honor of being able to work for you. I extend my hand to you so that we can walk together with determination to work tirelessly for Honduras. I will not disappoint you,” Asfura said in a video statement released Wednesday evening.
Nasralla and Rixi Moncada, the candidate for current President Xiomara Castro’s left-wing FREE party, who came a distant third, contested the election results.
Nasralla said Wednesday that election authorities had “betrayed the Honduran people.” He also took aim at Trump, who said before the election that a victory by anyone but Asfura would endanger economic ties between the United States and Honduras.
“Mr. President, your Honduran-backed candidate is complicit in silencing the votes of our citizens,” Nasralla said in a social media post. “If he is truly worthy of your support, if he has clean hands, if he has nothing to fear, then why won’t he allow every vote to be counted?”
Honduras has seen several contested elections since a U.S.-backed coup in 2009. Protests against the November elections have so far remained peaceful.
Before the election, Trump also issued a criticized pardon to right-wing former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of crimes related to drug trafficking to the United States during his time in office.
The pardon comes as the United States says it is refocusing its foreign policy on the Americas.
Asfura, the former mayor of Honduras’ capital Tegucigalpa, is of Palestinian origin. But his National Party is resolutely pro-Israeli.
Under Hernández, in 2021, Honduras became only the fourth country to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, in violation of international law.
Asfura has also aligned himself with Trump and other right-wing leaders in the Americas, including Argentina’s Javier Milei.
