US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA2353

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 002353 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, WHA/USOAS, AND DRL/PHD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN AND DCHA/DG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, HO 
SUBJECT: Honduran Elections: Mayoral Race in Danli Too Close 
to Call as Nationals Try to Break Liberal Dominance 
 
REF: Tegucigalpa 2346 and previous 
 
1. (U) Summary:   Emboffs met recently with the two leading 
mayoral candidates from the medium-sized city of Danli in the 
Department of El Paraiso, Jorge Alfredo Carcamo Flores of the 
National Party and Luz Victoria Oliva Lovo of the Liberal 
Party.  The Liberal Party has held power for the past 22 
years.  In the February elections 19,000 people voted in the 
Liberal Party primary and 9,000 voted in the National Party 
primary.  (There are approximately 180,000 people in the 
general area of Danli.)  Despite the disparity in numbers, 
the race now appears to be close.  Both candidates view 
similar development issues as the key issues for the 
election.  Mr. Carcamo has been in politics for 24 years, but 
has never formally held office; Ms. Lovo is new to politics 
but has worked for the government her entire career.  Both 
believe their party will win.  End Summary. 
 
National Party Candidate 
------------------------ 
 
2. (U) National Party candidate Jorge Carcamo owns several 
large farms and holds a degree in agricultural engineering. 
His platform is based on economic development for the Danli 
area and improving education.  Carcamo's platform and 
discussion focused on unemployment and more investment in the 
countryside, moving from subsistence farming to crop 
diversification and improved irrigation methods.  He also 
seeks improved access to potable water. 
 
3. (U) Improving school infrastructure and increasing the 
number of young people in schools is an important goal for 
Carcamo.  He stated that 40 percent of local children do not 
attend any school, and many of them go for the free lunch. 
He advocates for a public awareness campaign to convince 
rural parents of the importance of education for their 
children and for making the school vacation time coincide 
with harvest time.  Women's issues, particularly helping 
single mothers with children who work on the street, are a 
priority for him also.  In addition, he wants to create a 
"Virtual Library" for Danli youth to expand their horizons 
through the establishment of a free Internet program for 
local youth. 
 
4. (U) Carcamo promotes capacity building and giving the 
people the resources to address their own issues locally.  He 
believes that the Liberal party is out of touch with the 
people, and that they do not understand nor have they met the 
needs of the people.  He also believes that previous Liberal 
Party mayors have been corrupt and would review the books of 
previous administrations if elected.  He wants an accounting 
of the 40,000,000 lempiras (USD 2.1 million) from taxes given 
to Danli last year by the national government. 
 
Liberal Candidate 
----------------- 
 
5. (U) Luz Victoria Oliva Lovo is a retired Ministry of 
Education district director and holds a degree is in rural 
development.  Her platform is based on specific plans for 
development of the Danli area.  Quoting from a document 
written by the economic development NGO FUNDEMON, in part 
financed by USAID, she spoke of concrete solutions for 
economic and environmental aspects of regional integration. 
Interestingly enough, her first statements were that the 
politicians of Danli had done many studies on what Danli 
needs, how to improve its situation, but then would ignore 
the findings and move on to/do something different. 
(Comment:  The previous administrations have all been Liberal 
- her party.  End Comment) She advocated the establishment of 
a local branch of the national university (UNAH - Universidad 
Nacional Autonomous de Honduras) for technical education to 
advance local industrialization.  She mentioned other 
possible avenues of technical training, such as the Zamarano 
Institute for Agriculture - but training for technicians not 
for engineers.  She also focused on capacity building for 
local residents, including formal and non-formal education 
for community members.  She is especially interested in 
capacity building of women and advocated that teachers to be 
better trained in teaching methodology and curriculum 
development. 
 
6. (U) Lovo focused on the importance of environmental 
protection for the area and suggested identifying a specific 
organically grown coffee niche market which is 
environmentally friendly produced, and mentioned regional 
integration with Nicaragua to address environmental 
protection issues.  Lovo also emphasized ecotourism to 
promote economic development through developing mountain 
climbing routes with nice haciendas for travelers. 
 
7. (U) She spoke of the strategic position of Danli, 
emphasizing the importance of connecting the area with roads 
to select port cities and the borders, providing adequate 
outlets for Honduran exports. 
 
8. (U) Lovo said she expects fraud in the upcoming election 
due to irregularities with voter identification.  She alleges 
that the National Registry of Persons (RNP) destroyed the 
voting certifications of Liberal Party supporters.  In 
addition, she alleged that 1,317 liberal party voter 
applications were mutilated by the removal of the photos. 
There is apparently an ongoing investigation. 
 
9. (U) Both candidates said crime and narcotrafficing are not 
issues in this local election. 
 
10. (SBU) Comment:  Both candidates touched on similar 
issues.  Carcamo's issues seemed much more concrete and 
focused on the actual issues and problems of Danli.  He 
described himself as a campesino and seems to be more 
enthusiastic than polished.  Carcamo's father was in politics 
for many years and Carcamo has worked for the party for many 
years.  Carcamo believes he has gained a good understanding 
of the issues.  He is practical and appears to have a good 
grasp of the issues, but he does not a strong platform on how 
to solve them.  As with many National Party members in this 
election, he appears confident that he will win. 
 
11. (SBU) Though Lovo is new to politics, she has served in 
various politically appointed positions.  Her background in 
education and rural development make her a strong candidate. 
She has macroeconomic solutions to local problems but with a 
large price tag and a long timeline.  She speaks well, is 
polished and describes herself as part of the pueblo, but she 
does not appear to be as closely in touch with the area or 
its people as Carcamo.  The numbers from the primary suggest 
that the Liberal Party will win; however, Carcamo's growing 
popularity could make this a close race.  Interestingly, when 
asked if she thought she would win, Ms. Lovo was much more 
hesitant and said that due to the numbers she should win.  It 
will be interesting contest - especially to see if the 
general public apathy and the Nationalist Party's ability to 
mobilize its voters do indeed hand them an upset victory. 
End Comment. 
 
Ford