Tegucigalpa.
The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, Made it “clear” this Monday, that 2021 will be his “last year of government“And he advised politicians who say they want to stay in power, to continue in their proselytizing projects.
“I want to make it clear, especially to those who are always against everything and for nothing: This is my last year of government, I want to make it clear, I ask them to deal with their political projects and their proposals. , do not continue to invent it in the country that I intend to stay, “he stressed in his report of his third year in office.
The report was presented by Hernández in the installation of the chamber and last session of the Parliament 2018-2022, In which the holders of the three powers of the state announced the executors of 2020.
“I will make the Government whoever is elected president in the next elections in November of this year 2021, it has been an honor to serve my country,” said Hernandez, who in the last two months has reiterated that will not seek re-election.
The ceremony, which was attended by Hernández accompanied by his wife, Ana García, took place at the Parliament building, under strict biosecurity measures due to the covid-19 pandemic that has been affecting the Central American country since March.
Among the few attendees were Maurici Oliva, President of the Legislature, and Rolando Argueta, holder of the Supreme Court of Justice, The same as the leaders of the parties that make up the Parliament, which consists of 128 deputies.
2020 was his toughest year, Hernandez says
The governor highlighted in his report the successes that, according to him, the country has had in the seven years it has been in power, the last three as part of a controversial re-election, which the Constitution does not allow, under no modality, in a 2017 election in which the opposition claims there was fraud.
“2020 represented for our country the most difficult year in our history, facing not one or two, but 3 national emergencies followed the same year and of terrible devastating power, “he indicated.
He added that covid-19 continues to claim the lives of hundreds of compatriots (nearly 3,500 and about 141,000 infections since March 2020) and affecting the health of much of the population, while Eta and Iota left thousands injured. and they destroyed what what Hondurans had “built together in recent years.”
Hernández explained the health and economic damage caused by the covid-19 pandemic, to which are added those of And it’s Iota, With much destruction to the productive infrastructure of country, with more intensity in the north and west.
Tropical storms “deepened the severe deterioration of the economy we were already suffering from covid-19. virus which continues to hit humanity has taken a big toll, both on human lives and on the destruction of world economies, ”noted the president, who will conclude his term on January 27, 2022.
“Our country is no exception and today we face the worst economic crisis in history after bringing steady annual growth, always above the average in Latin America and which by 2020 was forecast to be more than 3.7 % from’ Gross domestic product“(GDP), he stressed.
According to Hernández, the challenge in 2021 is to face the fall of 9.5% of the Honduran economy in 2020, which was reflected in addition to the fact that thousands of Hondurans lost their jobs, others closed their jobs. their businesses, were left without their homes, losing “the heritage of a lifetime.”
“It’s a catastrophe of apocalyptic dimensions which directly affects the pockets of the vast majority of the people, we must understand once and for all that the covid-19 came to stay, “said the president, in addition to reiterating to Hondurans the importance of comply with all medical procedures to avoid dying from the disease.
Reduction of violence among major achievements
Although Honduras currently records about 15 deaths a day, according to human rights organizations, Hernandez stressed that reducing the wave of crime in Honduras in the last decade has been one of the successes in its two periods.
“We lowered the homicide rate from almost 90 to 37 per 100,000 inhabitants, before more than 7,000 people died a year because of the violence, twice as many deaths as covid-19 has left us,” he said. the president.
He further stated that drug trafficking through his country has been reduced by 83 per cent, “according to official reports from the Department of State of the United States“.
He also indicated that in his tenure the “crime universities” into which Honduran prisons were converted were dismantled and maximum security prisons were built “to give exemplary punishments to criminals.”
In the fight against crime, Hernández highlighted the support of the three state powers, other sectors and the cooperation of friendly countries, mainly with regard to drug trafficking.
Hernandez recalled that his two terms in government were the extradition of more than 24 drug traffickers and the release of as many, as well as the dismantling of “all the drug cartels operating in the country,” destroying them its runways and drug processing lab.
He claims to be slandered by drug traffickers
The Honduran president has been sprinkled with multiple allegations of drug traffickers facing lawsuits in the United States, accusing him of having links to drug traffickers.
In addition, a younger brother of his, former MP Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, is about to be convicted in the United States of drug trafficking.
Hernandez stressed in his speech that, for having dealt severe blows to drug traffickers, they now slander him, and that “this price” is being “paid for” by his family.
“I am receiving slander based on testimonies from drug traffickers we have captured and others who have surrendered, because they knew what awaited them in my Government,” said the president, who considers slander to be a “revenge“People who were ‘disarmed a $ 24 billion business,” according to U.S. estimates.
Hernandez announced that 2021 will be a lot of investment in many fields to recover Honduras from the blows caused by the covid-19 pandemic and the Eta and Iota storms.