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Hello and welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Hinwood. The usual two segments today.

We'll hear a first from David Adler and Matt Kirchegard, who have been in, respectively,

Chile and Honduras, observing on behalf of the Progressive International.

And then public defender Sara Loostbater will talk about the problems of viewing high-profile trials as political events.

We're joined first by two electoral observers for the Progressive International, an organization jointly founded in 2018,

by the Democracy in Europe Movement and the Sanders Institute.

Matt Kirchegard has been in Honduras, observing their recent presidential election,

and David Adler has been in Chile as it chooses a new president.

In 2009, the president of Honduras, Manuel Zalaya, was overthrown in the coup that was backed by the US,

with then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a major actor in the event.

They're ensued more than a decade of violence, repression, and corruption under President Juan Orlando Hernandez and his national party.

The National Party's candidate, Nostria Asfuda, was defeated in elections held on November 28th by Giovanni Castro,

who, while married to Zalaya, is very much her own political figure.

Matt Kirchegard has been in Honduras watching the proceedings.

This interview was recorded a few days ago before the results were officially certified.

And Chile held the first round of a presidential election on November 21st.

There will be a runoff between the top two candidates, Jose Antonio Cast, and Gabriel Bort, on December 18th.

Cast is very far to the right, a fan of the neoliberal dictator Augusto Pinochet,

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