Honduras could be the next country in Latin America, after Argentina and Bolivia, to swing right after years of leftist rule. Polls show three candidates neck-and-neck in the race to succeed leftist President Xiomara Castro, whose husband, Manuel Zelaya, also led the country before being toppled in a 2009 coup. Trump's favorite is 67-year-old Nasry "Tito" Asfura of the right-wing National Party.

His main challengers are 60-year-old lawyer Rixi Moncada from the ruling Libre party and 72-year-old TV host Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party. Polls opened at 7:00 am (1300 GMT) for 10 hours of voting, with the first results expected late Sunday. Trump has conditioned continued US support for one of Latin America's poorest countries on Asfura winning. "If he (Asfura) doesn't win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad," he wrote Friday on his Truth Social platform, echoing threats he made in support of Argentine President Javier Milei's party in that country's recent midterms. In a stunning move on Friday, he also announced he would pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, of the National Party, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for cocaine trafficking and other charges. Some Hondurans have welcomed Trump's interventionism, saying they hope it might mean Honduran migrants will be allowed remain in the United States. But others have rejected his meddling in the vote. (Bssnews)