Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the revocation of Mario Morazan’s visa and the rejection of Marlon Ochoa’s visa application.
The two men, who belong to the leftist party LIBRE, are directly involved with groups that oversee the Honduran presidential election, which has not been called, even though it took place on Nov. 30.
Morazan is the head of Honduras’s electoral court, which also has one representative from each of the three major parties, and is “tasked with resolving electoral disputes,” according to the center.
Both electoral bodies have been accused of lacking independence and impartiality in their decision-making.
“The United States will not tolerate actions that undermine our national security and our region’s stability,” Rubio said.
The visa revocation and block of the two government officials were authorized under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which denies entry to people whose “proposed activities have potentially serious adverse U.S. foreign policy consequences.”
The election had 99.85 percent of the votes counted so far, but the narrow margin prompted electoral officials to conduct a special review of 2,792 ballot boxes, which allegedly revealed inconsistencies and errors.
The National Party candidate, Nasry Asfura, is narrowly leading with 40.24 percent, as Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, also a conservative, is closely behind with 39.64 percent.
The race did not have a primary; instead, it will be decided by who wins the most votes.
The ruling party’s candidate, Rixi Moncada, trails with 19.12 percent of the vote. Moncada, who served as a former finance and defense minister in the Xiomara Castro administration, has not recognized the results.
