{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415088", "\u201cElectoral fraud or manipulation would be disastrous for the people of Honduras, as well as for American interests\u201dSmith urges Sec. Rubio, Sec. Hegseth to support democracy and rule of law in Honduras", "2025-11-12", "2025", "2025-11", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Earlier this week, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in response to widespread concerns about potential electoral fraud or manipulation in Honduras\u2019 upcoming presidential election.\n\nIn the letter dated November 10th, Smith urged the top U.S. officials to publicly communicate that a productive and beneficial U.S.\u2014Honduran diplomatic relationship depends upon free and fair elections\u2014and that \u201cany effort to subvert the will of the Honduran people will carry serious consequences for bilateral relations and regional stability.\u201d\n\nSmith noted that Sec. Rubio and many others in the Trump administration have made it clear that the ruling party in Honduras\u2014the Liberty and Refoundation party (LIBRE)\u2014has an extremely poor record on democracy and the rule of law:\n\n\u201cMany Hondurans are concerned about the upcoming election\u2014and they have reason to be,\u201d said Smith, a renowned human rights lawmaker.\n\n\u201cThe Trump administration, more than any other administration in U.S. history, has a more complete understanding of the numerous challenges facing Latin America\u2014and we really must thank Secretary Rubio for providing a renewed focus on Latin America in U.S. policy, as well as his savvy, principled commitment to human rights.\n\n\u201cI am confident that\u2014publicly or privately\u2014the administration will take appropriate action to express U.S. support for free and fair elections in Honduras, and I hope that my proposals can contribute to that effort,\u201d remarked Smith.\n\nSmith\u2019s letter proposes the following initiatives for the United States to better support and promote democracy in Honduras:\n\nThe deployment of an official U.S. delegation to Honduras to observe the election;\n\nConstructive engagement with the Honduran Armed Forces, emphasizing their responsibility to uphold the democratic process; and\n\nThe issuance of public statements in support of free and fair elections, strengthening independent election observation, the mobilization of diplomatic resources, and holding accountable any attempts to undermine the democratic process.\n\nSmith has extensive, internationally recognized experience\u2014spanning more than four and a half decades\u2014in legislating and advocating on behalf of issues relating to free and fair elections and the rule law, largely through his leadership and involvement with the Human Rights Subcommittee, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and the Helsinki Commission.\n\nThe presidential election in Honduras is scheduled for November 30th. On November 11th, the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a statement on the fraught election process in Honduras.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415088"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7896730676293373, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}