The election of Gabriel Boric in Chile was rightly celebrated by all progressives here and around the world. What has been less commented on is the stunning victory in Honduras of Xiomara Castro who was inaugurated as President on 27 January.

Her election on 28 November 2021 brought to an end twelve years of conservative, repressive and corrupt National Party rule following a 2009 Washington-backed coup against her husband, the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya.

In her victory speech, she proclaimed the formation of a government of ‘peace and justice,’ saying that ‘for twelve years the people resisted, and those twelve years were not in vain. God takes time but doesn’t forget. Today the people have made justice… and gave meaning to the slogan: Only the people will save the people.’

Back in June 2009, soldiers occupied the capital and military leaders escorted Zelaya, at gunpoint, to a plane out of the country.

That coup led to widespread attacks on human rights. Xiomara Castro played a leading role in the resistance movement which has been struggling ever since for democracy and justice.

She is Honduras’ first female president, and during the election she promised a radical programme to ‘pull Honduras out of the abyss we have been buried in by neoliberalism, a narco-dictator and corruption.’

Her platform included pledges to tax wealth, create a new welfare payment for poor and elderly people, overhaul the country’s ‘failed neoliberal model’, tackle corruption and impunity, and open a national debate on reforming the country’s strict abortion laws. She also campaigned for the creation of a Constituent Assembly to rewrite Honduras’ reactionary Constitution.

She begins with a commanding mandate for change, winning 51% of the vote (1.7 million votes), well ahead of her main rival who gained just 36.9%. Her resounding success at the polls, at the third time of trying, is a repudiation of the years of pervasive corruption, rolling-back of democratic institutions, and sinking living standards.

But governing will be no easy task. She faces major challenges due to the corrupt and extreme neoliberal practices and policies of the previous regime—and a ruling elite determined to undermine her programme of change, including through a hostile congress.

The state bureaucracy she will inherit was shaped over the last twelve years by her opposition, and remains aligned to them.

Three quarters of Honduran households live in poverty, and over half in extreme poverty. Unemployment is above 10%. Northern Honduras is still reeling from two devastating hurricanes. Violent street gangs wreck countless lives, damage the economy, and have driven hundreds of thousands of desperate Hondurans to perilous attempts to migrate to the US. On top of this, the country is burdened with huge external debt.

Tackling these systemic issues will form the priorities of her government’s first 100 days. They aim to restructure the public debt, review tax collection, realign the budget with national and social needs, and intensify the fight against corruption.

To tackle this, in her victory speech she confirmed that ‘we are going to initiate a process throughout all of Honduras to guarantee a participatory democracy, a direct democracy, because we are going to be consulting the people.’

Notwithstanding an active feminist movement in the country, sections of the population and powerful national institutions continue to hold largely conservative social values, making progress on abortion rights, sex, and anti-racism education in schools fraught with difficulty.

No doubt the reactionary elites of Honduras will be seeking to prevent a radical programme of change and to again forge international alliances in their efforts to block progress.

2022 will be a tough year for Xiomara Castro and for the Honduran people as they face another wave of Covid on top of their already significant challenges. Winning office is not the same as winning power, and she will need all the support of social movements, trade unions, feminists, left forces, and many others around the world to make the progress she seeks.

But her victory is also hugely inspiring. It shows that we should never give up in our struggles for social, economic, and democratic justice. It is possible to reverse course.

Her success is part of progressive change sweeping across Latin America. One could call it a new ‘pink tide’. In 2020, we saw Bolivia return to progressive democratic government with the landslide election of Luis Arce of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) and the securing of majorities in both chambers of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. In 2021, we saw Peru elect a left-wing president, Pedro Castillo, for the first time. And Chileans elected Gabriel Boric as President, and a majority left-wing and independent constitutional assembly to redraft the country’s market-oriented constitution.

In October 2022, we all hope for a comeback by former President Lula da Silva in Brazil.

The forces of neoliberalism in the region are facing real challenges and setbacks. The struggle of progressives there gives us the boost of hope we need as we begin the year. Our task is to follow what is happening and rebut media lies, build our movements of solidarity, and do what we can to ensure our governments don’t intervene on the wrong side.

I will leave the final words to the new Honduran president: ‘No more poverty and misery in Honduras! Until the final victory, united, the people, together we are going to transform our country!’