Honduran President Xiomara Castro issued a stark warning after denouncing what she described as an emerging coup attempt against her government, as the country remains mired in electoral uncertainty.

Castro accused former president Juan Orlando Hernández—recently pardoned by former U.S. president Donald Trump—of planning to return to Honduras to interfere in the outcome of the November 30 general elections.

Honduras has now gone two weeks without knowing who its next president will be. Final results depend on a special vote count that will determine the winner between conservative candidate Nasry Asfura, backed by Trump, and right-wing contender Salvador Nasralla.

The prolonged delay has fueled protests, political accusations and rising tensions across the country.

“There is an aggression underway aimed at breaking the constitutional and democratic order,” Castro said in a post on X. She claimed verified intelligence information indicates that Hernández is attempting to destabilize her administration and influence the electoral process.

She urged social movements, grassroots organizations, members of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre), and the general public to gather in Tegucigalpa.

“The world must see that a new coup is being plotted here,” she warned.

Castro also sought to reassure the public that her government would not resort to repression. She said she had ordered the armed forces and national police to halt any disproportionate use of force and to protect demonstrators. “Our commitment is to peace, democracy and human rights,” she stressed.

Trump’s pardon and the position of the Armed Forces

Her statement followed a police crackdown on Libre supporters protesting outside the National Institute for Professional Training (Infop), where election materials are stored.

Demonstrators were challenging preliminary results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which currently show Asfura holding a narrow lead.

Former president Manuel Zelaya, Castro’s husband and Libre’s general coordinator, publicly backed the president and rejected any attempt to disrupt her constitutional mandate, which ends on January 27, 2026. “No more coups,” Zelaya declared, while calling for peaceful demonstrations in support of Castro.

Zelaya also announced that Castro would oversee the handover of leadership within the armed forces, an institutional act he said reinforces civilian control and undermines coup rumors.

The former president, who governed Honduras from 2014 to 2022, described Castro’s claims as “completely false” and said he has no plans to return to the country. He accused the president of trying to spread fear and divert attention from the political crisis.

Hernández was pardoned by Trump on November 27 after spending more than three years in a U.S. prison and being sentenced in 2024 to 45 years for drug trafficking and weapons offenses.

Trump’s pardon coincided with his public endorsement of Asfura, a member of the National Party, Hernández’s former political base.

Meanwhile, uncertainty continues to grip the country. The CNE has yet to begin the special review of nearly 2,800 disputed polling records.

The Organization of American States (OAS) has called the delay “unjustifiable” and warned that persistent fraud narratives are undermining Honduras’ democratic institutions.

With political polarization deepening, protests spreading and final election results still pending, Honduras faces one of its most fragile moments in recent history, overshadowed by fears of a coup and mounting institutional strain.