Luis Redondo

Honduran politician and engineer

Luis Redondo
President of the National Congress of Honduras
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 January 2022
Preceded byMauricio Oliva
Deputy of the Cortés Department
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 January 2014
Personal details
Born (1973-03-20) 20 March 1973 (age 51)
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Political partySavior Party of Honduras
Other political
affiliations
Anti-Corruption Party (2011–2017)
PINU-SD (2017–2020)
SpouseMarisela Bonilla
ProfessionEngineer, politician

Luis Rolando Redondo Guifarro (born 20 January 1973)[1] is a Honduran politician and engineer, serving as deputy and current disputed president of the National Congress of Honduras since 25 January 2022.[2]

Early life and career

Redondo began as a businessman in San Pedro Sula. He got involved supporting the Honduras National Team, traveling everywhere they played, becoming head of the barra since 2004. In that same year he met Salvador Nasralla, with whom he began a friendship. He traveled to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, along with the national team. In 2011, he supported Nasralla for the creation of the Anti-Corruption Party and, in turn, became a candidate for deputy to Congress, in the 2013 election, in which he was elected.[3]

Presidential dispute

In 2016, a crisis began within the Anti-Corruption Party with Nasralla being accused of being "badly advised" which led to a dispute between Nasralla and Marlene Alvarenga about which of them would become the party's presidential candidate, the latter winning the dispute, while Nasralla would be appointed as the LIBRE-PINU presidential candidate. Redondo left PAC and joined PINU to run for Congress, being elected.[4]

Congressional president and leadership dispute

In October 2021, the presidential candidates for PSH and LIBRE, Salvador Nasralla and Xiomara Castro, respectively, struck an alliance. Part of the agreement for Nasralla to step down as a candidate and endorse Castro was that if they were able to gain a majority in Congress, the head of Congress would be a member of the Savior Party.[5] Castro's party won 50 seats, whilst Nasralla's party won 10. On December 23, during a livestream, Nasralla announced his endorsement for Luis Redondo to become the President of the Congress.[6] The next morning, Castro followed suit.[7] When the newly elected congress voted for a congressional president on 21 January 2022, 18 deputies from Castro's party refused to honour the agreement. Instead, with support from opposition parties they voted for Jorge Cálix, a member of LIBRE, rather than Redondo. Nasralla commented on the incident as "another coup like in 2009". As a consequence, the 18 deputies were expelled from LIBRE.[8][9] The dispute was resolved when Cálix agreed to renounce his claim to the Presidency of the Congress, allowing Redondo to lead the Congress. Cálix's and the expelled deputies' membership of LIBRE was subsequently restored by LIBRE's leader Manuel Zelaya.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Nueva Corte, Fiscalía y Procuraduría promete nuevo presidente del congreso » Criterio.hn". Criterio.hn (in Spanish). 24 December 2021. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Honduras political dispute resolved, paving way for president's anti-corruption agenda". Reuters. 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Luis Redondo, un brillante ingeniero, enemigo de la corrupción y ex jefe de la "barra catracha" que presidirá el Congreso Nacional de Honduras". www.diez.hn (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  4. ^ "Salvador Nasralla: Luis Redondo y Fátima Mena tienen celos". www.elheraldo.hn (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Salvador Nasralla cede su candidatura para sumarse a Xiomara Castro". El Heraldo. 13 October 2021. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2022. Igualmente, Libre y PSH acordaron que la facción de Nasralla controlará el Congreso Nacional.
  6. ^ "Luis Redondo será el nuevo presidente del Congreso Nacional". La Prensa. 23 December 2021. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Xiomara Castro: "Luis Redondo nos garantiza combatir la corrupción"". La Prensa (in Spanish). 24 December 2021. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  8. ^ Gustavo Palencia (22 January 2022). "Honduras' next president blasts party for 'betrayal' in Congress". Reuters. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Libre Party of Honduran president-elect expels defector deputies". Radio Havana Cuba. 22 January 2022. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  10. ^ "Honduras political dispute resolved, paving way for president's anti-corruption agenda". Reuters. 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
Political offices
Preceded by President of the National Congress
2022–present
Incumbent