Tegucigalpa, Jan 8 (EFE).-
An explosive device was thrown at a member of the opposition National Party of Honduras on Thursday, minutes before a parliamentary session convened to present a report on the results of the Nov. 30 general election.
The device caused injuries to the back and head of lawmaker Gladys Aurora López, who fell to the floor and was then taken by car to a hospital in the Honduran capital.
Congresswoman López, suffered visible injuries, bleeding from her back and head, but sources close to her who transferred her to a private medical center in the Honduran capital said she is out of danger.
The incident occurred when several lawmakers from the National Party, the winner in the last elections, were accompanying their leader, Tomás Zambrano, who was speaking to journalists.
The deputies were three meters from an elevator at the back of the Parliament when the device exploded behind López, who was immediately protected by police.
“Why didn’t you go in?” journalists asked Gladys and a colleague. The deputy apparently uttered the word “closed.”
The device exploded behind her from outside the building, according to images of the incident.
Deputies from the opposition National and Liberal parties attended Parliament on Thursday in response to a call by Speaker Luis Redondo, but they believe that the head of the legislative branch wants a recount of more than 19,000 ballots from the Nov 30 general election, even though the National Electoral Council announced the final results on Dec 30.
The newly elected president of Honduras, Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura, of the National Party, who will take office on Jan 27, lamented the incident and told Channel 3 television in Tegucigalpa that he hopes Representative López “is in good health.”
Asfura was in San Pedro Sula, in the north of the country, where he met with business leaders to discuss his plans for the new government.
“I don’t want to think that it’s really about politics (the incident in Parliament), but these are things that really can’t happen. At this point, they cannot continue to happen, Asfura said.
“There is a clear election, an election with a new president, with a new Congress; we must all respect the law, work in peace, and provide answers to the people,” he added
The National Civil Police and the Honduran Army reinforced security around and inside the Parliament after the incident, they were stationed outside the Parliament, where a small group of people, apparently activists from the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre, left), chanted the slogan “vote by vote,” asking for a recount of the Nov 30 elections. EFEgr/mcd
