Salvador Alejandro César Nasralla Salum (born 30 January 1953) is a
Honduran sports journalist, television presenter, businessman, and politician who has served as the
First Vice President of Honduras since 27 January 2022.
He is the presenter of the TV programs ''5 Deportivo'' and ''X-0 da Dinero'', and has been called "El señor de la televisión". He was the founder of the
Anti-Corruption Party
The Anti-Corruption Party ( es, Partido Anticorrupción de Honduras, PAC) is a political party in Honduras. It was founded by sports journalist/television presenter Salvador Nasralla
Salvador Alejandro César Nasralla Salum (born 30 January ...
in 2011 when he stood for president in the
2013 Honduran general election. He stood again in the
2017 Honduran general election for the political alliance ''Alianza de Oposición contra la Dictadura'', made up of
Liberty and Refoundation
Liberty and Refoundation ( es, Libertad y Refundación, Libre; ''libre'' is the Spanish word for "free") is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political party in Honduras. Libre was founded in 2011 by the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), a ...
and the
Innovation and Unity Party
The Innovation and Unity Party—Social Democracy ( es, Partido Innovación y Unidad Social Demócrata, PINU-SD) is a social democratic political party in Honduras, established in 1970. PINU was created by Miguel Andonie Fernández as a democr ...
but narrowly lost to incumbent President
Juan Orlando Hernández
Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado (; born 28 October 1968), also known as JOH, is a Honduran lawyer and politician who served as President of Honduras from 2014 to 2022.
A member of the National Party, Hernández previously served as the presi ...
, despite widespread claims of fraud and irregularities.
Early life
Nasralla was born in
Tegucigalpa
Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
. His parents, Alejandro Nasralla and Alicia Salum, are
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
and his mother was born in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. He spent his childhood in the northern city of
Trujillo,
Colón. At the age of eleven, his family returned to Tegucigalpa. There, he attended his secondary studies at
Instituto San Francisco and obtained his high school diploma. During his adolescence he began being a journalist, working at Emisoras Unidas from 1966 to 1969, and in Uniradio and Radio Católica.
He also took classes of drama and television.
After high school, Nasralla was sent to live with his extended family in Chile. There, he attended the
Catholic University of Chile
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
where he graduated with honors. He obtained a degree in Civil Industrial Engineering and a Master of Business Administration.
Professional career
After returning from Chile, Nasralla became the CEO of
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi was ...
Honduras. He also became a professor at the
National Autonomous University of Honduras
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
where he gave lectures on business and engineering.
In 1981, he started his career in television.
Political career
![Salvador Nasralla in 2013 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Salvador_Nasralla_in_2013_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Nasralla has been harshly critical of the Honduran government since the 1980s. In particular, he has pinpointed the widespread corruption at the highest levels of government as the main cause of the problems that afflict Honduran society.
Due to the increasing deterioration of the living conditions of the majority Hondurans as a result of the perceived indifference and/or incompetence of traditional politicians, Nasralla and other members of the civil society decided to establish a new political party. Therefore, in 2013 the Anti-Corruption party was founded and registered by the
Supreme Electoral Tribunal so that Nasralla could participate in the
2013 presidential election. He received 418.443 votes, 13.43% of the total.
2017 election
In the 2017 presidential election he represented the left-wing coalition, gaining only slightly less votes than the incumbent winner. Despite allegations of widespread irregularities, the United States recognised the reelection of President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
2021 election
Nasralla entered the race for president of Honduras again in 2021, but as a candidate for the Savior Party. However, he later dropped out and became the running mate of
LIBRE
Libre may refer to:
Computing
* Libre software, free software
* Libre Computer Project, developer of open-hardware single-board computers
Medicine
*FreeStyle Libre, a glucose monitoring device
Media
* Libre Times, news site which people can free ...
party nominee and former first lady
Xiomara Castro
Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento (; born 30 September 1959), also known as Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, is a Honduran politician who is the 56th president of Honduras, in office since January 2022. She is the country's first female president, havin ...
. They went on to win the election. Nasralla assumed office as First Vice President on 27 January 2022.
2022 Congressional leadership dispute
One of the agreements for Nasralla to end his presidential campaign and endorse Castro’s was that if they were able to gain a majority in Congress, the congressional president would be a member of the Savior Party. Castro’s Libre party won 50 seats, whilst Nasralla’s Savior party won 10. When the newly elected congress voted for a congressional president on 21 January 2022, 18 deputies from Castro’s party refused to honour the agreement. Instead, they voted for Luis Cálix, a member of Libre, rather than Luis Redondo from Nasralla’s party as the Savior and the rest of the Libre deputies had done. Nasralla commented on the incident as "another coup like in
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
". As a consequence, the 18 deputies were expelled from Libre. The dispute was resolved when Calíx and the expelled Libre deputies agreed to support Redondo. Their membership of Libre was restored when Castro reversed their expulsion.
Personal life
He is married to former beauty queen Iroshka Elvir and they have one daughter, born in December, 2017.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasralla, Salvador
1953 births
Candidates for President of Honduras
Honduran people of Palestinian descent
Honduran politicians
Honduran television journalists
Living people
Male journalists
People from Tegucigalpa
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni
Vice presidents of Honduras