Honduran President Nasri Esfura prioritizes education, health, and infrastructure in his first 100 days, aiming to decentralize power to curb migration while securing $10.5 billion in reserves to combat inflation. He emphasizes legal certainty for foreign investment, particularly in electric power, leveraging Honduras' status as the U.S.'s largest business partner with two million residents there, alongside strong ties to Spain and the EU. The episode concludes abruptly with President Trump announcing a June 14th UFC event at the White House, shifting focus from diplomatic stability to high-profile entertainment. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Synergy and Central Bank Power00:14:54
So I was already thinking about this process and then he passed away.
So now it just hit me.
So again, old colleague, old high school buddy, college buddy, just shoot them a text, FaceTime.
Just tell them you miss them.
Tell them you love them.
Tom, you said to me a couple of weeks ago, patience equals peace.
How do you decide what opportunities you're going to take?
How do you become patient?
And how do you decide when it is you should pass on something?
I think it's been an evolution to have that type of mindset.
I think it took me into retirement to actually realize that it's interesting when you play quarterback on a team, there's a lot of variables every single game.
You know, the opponent, the refs, the weather, who's playing on your team, what the plays are.
And there's so many things that you want to try to control.
And the more I thought things were in my control as a player, well, the better I could do.
Who are we putting in the game on that play?
What route is he running?
What defender is he on?
How deep is the route going to be?
All those little things to me over a period of time I thought allowed me to be successful.
I remember I was in college.
It was my last year in college as a Michigan, so I was 22 years old and we were playing Ohio State, which was our rival.
And it was my last game.
And out more live coverage from the Milken Institute here on C-SPAN.
A conversation with Honduran President Nasri Esfura on the relationship between Honduras and the United States.
Although journalists love to talk about this, I would like to start by asking you what were your main priorities during these past three months.
Thank you so much, GP.
Good morning, everyone.
God bless you all and your families.
So it's such a huge challenge in 100 days.
And I always say that if for decades things have not been solved, of course, you do not have enough time in 100 days to address them all.
But we are focused on education, health, infrastructure, because a country without infrastructure cannot progress forward.
We're talking about sanitation, drinking water, environment.
It's a mix of many things, decentralization as well, which takes a key role in my four-year term.
And we have been working with the mayor.
We have 188 mayors at a country level.
So that, of course, somehow extends our government arm for us to be able to take an opportunity to many locations in our country because from the inside of the country is where we need to address all of the issues so that there are no migrations from people to larger cities.
Because we do not want people to go to other countries, of course.
We do want to provide them with those opportunities inside the main cities and towns by creating jobs because the only way to create richness is by attracting domestic foreign investment for the country to be able to move forward, to thrive, and to create those job opportunities and to also create prosperity for our people.
There is no way for a government to, of course, provide employment to every single one of the inhabitants.
However, by generating that type of riches, that wealthness is that we are going to be in the position of changing people's lives and their quality of life.
Of course, investment is really important through foreign investment, like we said.
So the key point there would be infrastructure, energy, in particular, electric power.
Right.
Why would a foreign investor take a bet on Honduras?
Well, first and foremost, if we start addressing the fact that money, capitals are full of fear.
They do want to get, of course, profitability.
They do not want to get too risky.
So we're working on giving that certainty because we know that people look for that legal certainty.
So the very first thing that I would like to offer is not just certainty, not only legal certainty, also political certainty.
Why?
Why political certainty?
Because the public administration does not belong to any government.
It is the duty of each governor of each state to really abide by the same development policies that go from one government term to the other.
So in the past year's elections, we saw very clearly what were the stances of the two political parties that were just voted by the population.
So we decided to strengthen them because we share common goals.
Over 90% of our mindsets are compatible in these two parties.
For that reason, I feel and I believe that if we provide that political certainty first, that is going to ensure that there is continuity in that institutionality that we are aiming at in Honduras.
Because if we just step away from everything that the previous government did, yes, of course, four years, yes, that is going to change things entirely.
For that reason, we do need continuity for us to thrive.
Electric power, like we said, is very complicated.
The legal certainty that we need to provide also follows political certainty and also invasions, laws for investment, and also the fact that we can reach negotiations that were very clear, let's say, with the private sector companies, with unions, with whom they negotiated minimum wages for the coming two years so that we can have stability and for employees to be able to be motivated to work in a company,
in a government institution, and for them to also be able to develop themselves.
In terms of electric power, we have 2,500 megawatts.
So, again, we have basic topics that are key for development and for us to be able to really get to tendering exercises in the coming months.
It is going to be open to everyone.
We're going to have these tenders open to competition.
Please just tell us what kind of technology is going to just lead you to generating that power, electric power, right, and power in general.
Of course, we need to abide by the global environmental rules and also we need to see, let's say, the cheapest kilowatt cost and also in the lowest time possible.
With clearly defined rules, with transparency, I am positive that Honduras will thrive and just prove that things are feasible, that we can really attract that kind of investment for us to be able to work with an open door policy.
So, yes, I can prove that this is simple.
My work is to perform or to serve as an enabler.
How much do you want to invest?
$100 million.
How many employments are you going to create?
So, if that's the case, how can I assist you with that?
If we do not understand that point as a government, there is no really reason behind or thriving.
So, again, I know that I was a mayor for eight years of a city, and I know that public administration is not easy at all.
There are a hundred steps that you need to take before you achieve something.
But, again, I also worked at a private company.
I have been working in private companies for over 50 years.
So, really, learning and knowing these two sides give you this important mix, this knowledge, and it will help you a lot in succeeding and also in giving continuity to a given project.
You feel that you need to just continue moving forward with a given project.
You just need to keep on fostering it so that you can achieve it.
Okay.
Sir, let's speak of geopolitics.
How can a country like Honduras with 11 million persons navigate those situations in Latin America where we have a very interventionist role from the U.S. and also China, the region?
Let me speak of the Central American region.
The Central American region is a very strong region.
We have about 50 million inhabitants.
Yes, it is growing exponentially.
Yes.
And Honduras is two hours away from Miami, right?
Even three days by boat.
So we are so close, and we have such a huge commercial partner, right?
So we do need to really understand who are our partners and what is convenient for the country.
So as a president, I have a duty to serve my country.
But the most important part here is to see what's also convenient to us.
Who is going to be our actual business partner?
What's convenient?
Well, I can tell you we need to improve our relationship with the U.S. today, for instance.
That's our largest business partner.
We have 2 million Honduran people in the U.S. Please, I do not want to overlook Spain.
We have over 300,000 Hondurans in Spain, where we know that remediates are in the amount of 12 million USD approximately.
We are speaking of 28% of the GDP of the country that comes from those remedias.
So generating that trust in the country and also looking out for the actual business partners to see where that exchange comes from.
Of course, we know that we do have a business somehow inclination, of course, for the benefit of the U.S.
We are speaking of 2.4 times important and $2.4 billion.
But all in all, the European Union is also very important.
I cannot overlook that.
We have a sustainable business relationship with the European Union as well.
So I feel that we need to really start looking at our true partners.
We are in a stronger America.
We want a more prosperous and more united America, right?
Or general Americas, to be honest.
So if we do not generate that prosperity, we do not create it to have a significant social change to improve the wellness of our people, then we're not going to achieve it.
Of course, we are clear that that partner is the U.S. and that obviously we have really received that outstanding support from President Trump.
So how much have they supported you as Honduras?
We have definitely discussed this with President Trump.
We are on his side.
And that is a very important step.
There is a synergy that will bring many more benefits into the country.
So this also goes hand in hand with relationships, with our shared interests, with what is convenient to the different countries to Honduras and to the U.S. trying to get always the best decisions for both countries.
But speaking of investments in security, we are now giving a lot more safety, security to our investors.
We are complying with all of our commitments.
We are looking at the benefits that The government owes to companies from Honduras, but also from abroad, American investments.
We owe them tax money, so let's invest in Honduras.
That's the next step to take some steps to begin purchasing dollars.
So our reserves right now, starting in January 27th of this year, we've had 100 days starting tomorrow.
So we'll have $10.3 billion in our reserves.
We are now around $10.5 billion.
So for $1.2 million, $1.3 million over of our own reserves in only 94 days, this is something that provides certainty to investors and stability and credibility to the country.
So the plan is to reduce or to cut down 16 government agencies and shrink them to later unify them.
And then there is another step for the next year, but depending on how we are doing with the tax deficit control, which will determine how the state institutions behave.
The president must see the country as a large-scale business and know how to handle it.
Anything else is not the right solution.
We need to be able to control our public expenditures.
We cannot spend more than we have.
So unless we structure those ideas, I believe if we do change them, many things can change and bring this better future to Honduras with better education, tourism, many challenges along the way, of course.
We need to capitalize on our central bank, something we have not done for a really long time.
So these are very clear investment-related policies that will strengthen the economy further.
And the political side needs to be more at ease.
No one wants to invest in a country where the Congress has issues, when the presidency of the country seems to have lost all order.
This is why I believe order, transparency, and clear rules matter.
Now, during the campaign, recognizing China was one of the key messages.
Balancing Economy and Politics00:03:30
Where are we right now?
We are analyzing what is best for Honduras and for our citizens.
Depending on that, we will be working on investments, on job creation.
So this is really a number of things that we need to consider to make the best decisions.
Well, we were talking about containing public expenditures and decentralizing.
And this is all essential, but it also requires other things like austerity and sometimes a lack of stability.
How to find the balance here?
Well, today with the war and the situation with oil, which is, of course, affecting everyone, all the world, and not only Honduras, we need to find a way to achieve the balance.
We call it a temporary economic support, what we have with fuels right now, which is 50% assistance on gas and diesel, which really moves the economy, GOP,
the gas, which is used in the micro-industries very often, and also power to find a way to temporarily support it so that this does not receive a disproportionate impact and therefore causing an impact in the budgets of our citizens.
But we need to also generate jobs because the worst thing that could happen is having prices go up disproportionately for food and basic needs or for fuels when there are no jobs.
That would be the worst possible scenario.
But as long as we have balance, and if there are any job creation opportunities in that balance, I believe that we can have stability.
But this requires working all the way from the higher spheres.
Sometimes politicians don't understand the responsibility we have.
It's like we act like money, we have infinite access to money.
This is definitely not the case.
We cannot spend more than we have.
We need to know how to invest our money.
So if businesses stop respecting the value of money, that is not good.
So we need to make sure that reality is not distorted.
I know presidents don't like to have prices go up, but we need to have responsibility here.
We are going to leave the last few minutes of this to go live to the White House.
President Trump is making remarks live.
White House Live and Champions00:02:34
I know the football players.
I know just about everybody you can know.
When they come to the Oval Office, we give out all championships, baseball, football, basketball, everything.
They're always up here.
We take the champions.
And these are the great champions.
And as you know, June 14th, we're having a big fight.
It's never going to happen again.
Never happened before.
And it's all of the best fighters, best four fighters standing right behind me and all champions.
And it's going to happen right in front of the White House.
Here's a picture.
I think a lot of people haven't seen this yet.
I'll give you that.
I think you'll probably be able to do okay with it.
Well, the media is going to go crazy.
Not bad, right?
Championship belt.
Dana White was here last night.
Did you know that he was here last night?
No.
He loves this guy.
He loves all of them.
Here's another one.
This is another.
They're going all the way out, all online.
It's all people invited.
Our country is invited to this.
It's free.
And you know, in the park right across the street, they're going to have, I guess, anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 people.
Free.
They're going to set up eight big screens and they're going to have the fight.
And then out here, we're going to have 4,000 seats right in front of the front door of the White House.
The hardest ticket I've ever had to.
The best life show on earth, 240.
This will be the greatest show on earth at night.
That's all lighting and cover.
And I think you get the idea.
So it's going to be June 14th, and it's going to be great.
And this is a little different for these political people.
But these are real warriors.
When we talk about warriors, these are warriors.
Cyril Gon, these are all champions, I don't have to say champions, and most of you know, many of you know who they are.
Cyril, great honor.
Alex Pereira, who's, I've seen him knock out a lot of people.