In Honduras, the transmission of the voting records is still not complete, with only 115 records remaining since yesterday to be entered into the system as part of the contingency 1 and 2 processes. The vote counting process has been, in general, a disaster, marked by irregularities in the so-called Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP in Spanish), the responsibility of a Colombian company that won the contract for something as critical as the vote count, which I believe should fall directly under the electoral authority.
The disrespect has been such that on Monday night the TREP failed because it was not prepared to process the ballots from a department where their size is "large," although I don't understand why the National Electoral Council speaks of ballots when the contingency processes are performed on the voting records. The start of the special scrutiny, in which just over 2,770 records that presented inconsistencies of varying degrees in their digital processing will be reviewed, is scheduled for tomorrow. About 200 people, representatives of the different contending parties, will participate in this process, which must define the winner—there are 570,360 votes involved—, and which will also have electoral observation from the OAS, the European Union, and the Electoral Observers Network. Regarding its duration—let's remember first that 10 days have already passed since the general election day—, it is said that it could last approximately up to twelve days.
La presidenta del Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) de Honduras, Ana Paola Hall, denunció la continuidad de problemas técnicos en el recuento de votos de las elecciones generales del 30 de noviembre, aunque aseguró que los resultados, que se mantienen sin cambios desde la pasada… pic.twitter.com/kjEhBReGws
— Diario El Heraldo (@diarioelheraldo) December 10, 2025
One of the most interesting developments in recent hours was the acknowledgment by the ruling party LIBRE that its candidate Rixi Moncada is out of the race. Manuel Zelaya, its national coordinator and former president, also said that according to the electoral records in their possession, the winner is Salvador Nasralla, who is also fueling the narrative of electoral fraud and analyzing with the leadership of the Liberal Party whether to call its electoral base to the streets to protest. In this sense, spokespersons for the liberal political organization have rejected that there is an alliance with LIBRE. "I want to categorically emphasize that there is no alliance [with LIBRE]," declared a liberal deputy. So far, with 99.4% progress in the count, the Trump-backed conservative candidate Nasry Asfura continues to lead by about 42,410 votes over Nasralla.
Trump vs. Venezuela
The White House chief confirmed that the U.S. military forces deployed near Venezuela's maritime jurisdiction in the Caribbean Sea intercepted and seized a "large" oil tanker there. "[It] was seized for a very good reason," Trump declared to the press about this action, which produced ipso facto an upward movement in oil prices later nuanced by this report from a New York Times journalist.
A senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research said that "[the] seizure of ships in international waters to extraterritorially enforce US sanctions is a dangerous precedent and a violation of international law." According to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the tanker, currently named "Skipper", was sanctioned "due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations". When it entered the OFAC's SDN List a little over three years ago, the narrative was focused onits relationship with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, but at the time of the seizure it was transporting Venezuelan crude, which is also sanctioned by Washington. Since Bondi speaks of "foreign terrorist organizations," in plural, it is very likely there is an implicit reference to the so-called Cartel of the Suns here.
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 10, 2025
"We keep it, I guess," Trump stated when asked about the fate of the Merey heavy crude that the tanker under the Guyanese flag was carrying, supposedly with Cuba as its destination, although not to feed the island's depressed crude inventories but to sell it to Asian energy brokers, according to a source cited by Politico. Trump has been very active in his threats and warnings against Latin American countries in recent hours, as are the cases of Colombia and Mexico, in the latter case in relation to a dispute over water quality at the border.
⚡️🇻🇪 Maduro canta y baila al ritmo 'Don't worry, be happy' https://t.co/caSrkkV498 pic.twitter.com/YXdApvGAGC
— RT en Español (@ActualidadRT) December 10, 2025
A dead issue? 👇
Reporter: Has Hegeth told you why he hasn’t released the video of the second strike?
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 10, 2025
Trump: I thought that issue was dead, you must be CNN. Are you CNN?
Reporter: I am
Trump: You know you work for the Democrats? You're basically an arm of the Democrat party. pic.twitter.com/FGQ1wBBY8e
Regional news brief
The Kristi Noem-led Department of Homeland Security signed a contract to acquire six Boeing 737 aircraft for 140 million dollars, in an action aimed at strengthening its capacity to deport migrants without depending on charter flights from private companies.
Petro launched harsh criticisms against Nicolás Maduro in reaction to the news of the annulment or retention of a cardinal's passport. The head of the House of Nariño said that "[the] Government of Maduro must understand that the response to an external aggression is not only a military mobilization but a democratic revolution." "It is with more democracy that a country is defended, not with more inefficient repressions," he added. Maduro, on the other hand, advocated for the restoration of Gran Colombia (the Great Colombia), a state formed by Venezuela and Colombia for about twelve years in the first half of the 19th century.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado reportedly left Venezuela yesterday Tuesday by sea bound for Curaçao, in a supposedly clandestine operation with U.S. support, which should end with her arrival in Oslo, Norway. She was expected for the ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to her, but she ultimately could not attend. Her daughter received the controversial prize on her behalf. In line with what I have commented here on other occasions, if Machado left the country I believe it happened with the acquiescence of Miraflores, and probably as part of a negotiation with Washington.
Former President Luis Arce was arrested this Wednesday in Bolivia as part of an investigation for alleged corruption. The Vice President of Carondelet Edmand Lara congratulated "the officers of the Special Force for Fighting Crime of the anti-corruption division in the city of La Paz" for the apprehension of the unfortunate indigenous leader.
An update from AP on the Bolsonaro case 👇
Bill that could reduce Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro's prison time advances in Congress. By @EleonoreHghshttps://t.co/5q3SmjCEf6
— E. Eduardo Castillo (@EECastilloAP) December 10, 2025
This is all for today’s report.
Sending you some Ecency curation votes!
Thanks always for the regular support from the Ecency team to my work ans growth here. Best regards from Havana.