Three weeks after Hondurans went to the polls in November, a winner has yet to be announced. In an election marked by irregularities, Donald Trump’s intervention before the polls opened in November was the most bizarre.

Trump’s last-minute enthusiastic backing of the far-right Nasry Asfura over the conservative Salvador Nasralla, propelling him from a dark horse into a credible candidate, came with threats to cut off US aid to the country. And just two days before polls opened, Trump pardoned former president Juan Orlando Hernández of Asfura’s disgraced National Party, who had been sentenced to forty-five years in prison for trafficking cocaine into the United States.

Doug Henwood had the Progressive International’s David Adler and Matt Kirkegaard on the Behind the News podcast to explain the preliminary results of the Honduran elections and how they fit into the US government’s renewed commitment to foreign intervention in the Western hemisphere. This interview has been edited for clarity. Subscribe to Jacobin Radio to hear future episodes.