Today's beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero and he Pope's declaration that Romero is a martyr has brought on a historical argument as to whether the previous, conservative Pope had already 'unblocked' 'his entry into the sainthood process,' while the conservative Catholic First Things reports that Romero "stood apart from liberation theology" and "Few know that Romero received spiritual direction from an Opus Dei priest," referring to the historically conservative prelature.  The first part is patently inaccurate - for the last two years of his life he worked on his pastoral letters with liberation theologian Jon Sobrano and his homily six weeks before his murder included "Liberation will arrive only when the poor are the controllers of, and protagonists in, their own struggle and liberation."  Michael Löwy recounts "he had sympathized with Opus Dei in his youth" and "would later say to friends, he was chosen as the one most able to neutralize the 'Marxist priests.'"

What followed was a snowballing effect of radicalization in response to violence with the Archbishop in the center.  The murders of two priests in early 1977 began his "'conversion'" and he would begin to consult with Sobrano the following year.  The "liberation" sermon came a few days before he wrote an open letter to President Carter asking him "to forbid that military aid be given to the Salvadoran government." (pdf) The letter led to rumors he was in danger and he told an interviewer "if God accepts the sacrifice of my life, let my blood be a seed of freedom and the sign that hope will be reality."  The UN concluded in 1993 that Romero's assassination was carried out by Major Roberto D’Aubuisson, who once praised the Holocaust and who "worked with the CIA for years.." a fellow major told Allan Nairn.  Romero's funeral saw an estimated 250,000 convene around Plaza Gerardo Barrios, only to have the military junta open fire on them.




This scene, followed by an even larger massacre on the Sumpul River six weeks later and the National Guard's rape of four nuns seven months later, all during the end of the Carter administration, turned the apolitical like Romero into activists and activists into militants, swelling the ranks of the newly formed FMLN to wage a twelve year war.

This interview given by Leo Gabriel, an Austrian member of the EU electoral observation mission, is quite revealing and courageous.  He stated "the vast majority of the members of the mission were in strong disagreement with the preliminary report" on the election, and another EU observer told Adrienne Pine "the majority of the members on the EU observation delegation were not in agreement with the official statement claiming the elections were transparent and fair, but were afraid of losing their jobs and/or future lucrative observation opportunities if they spoke out."  Baltasar Garzón alleged to AFP "electoral fraud by different mechanisms and avenues."

Gabriel told Opera Mundi (English version here) "..We arrived at conclusions that stand in diametric opposition to the EU-EOM leadership..

"During the transmission of the results there was no possibility to find out where the tallies where being sent and we received reliable information that at least 20% of the original tally sheets were being diverted to an illegal server that they kept hidden..

"To speak of transparency after everything that happened last Sunday is a joke and I believe that, first and foremost, we observers have to be honest and portray what we have really seen..

"The 2009 Coup d’État harmed the image of Honduras around the world, slowing down progress on the Association Agreement signed by the European Union and the Central American region (EU-CA AA). Presenting [an image of] a clean and transparent electoral process helps the European Union to clean up Honduras’s image around the world and set this commercial project into motion..

"In the general evaluation meeting, the majority of my colleagues who observed the elections 'on site,' on the ground, were in agreement about the irregularities I just laid out. No one defended the content of the report or the idea that there had been transparency in the process, and that brought us up against the intransigence of the EU-EOM team leaders, who did not want to cede even one millimeter. We argued for a serious discussion of the topic, taking into account what we had witnessed and suggesting changes to the text, but they firmly refused..

"I believe the TSE pulled the results out of their sleeves according to a predefined political calculus..

"Yes ('it was all a set-up'), because these results don’t have any basis and the speed with which they came out with the early data demonstrates that."

(emphasis mine)

Fireworks going off all over Tegucigalpa, following the announcement that @XiomaraCastroZ will be the next president of #Honduras
— Adrienne Pine (@adriennepine) November 25, 2013

Update 11/25:
AMY GOODMAN: "The results are not fully in yet. At around 53%, 54% of the count, — what Honduras is saying, what the authorities are saying is the right wing candidate Juan Hernandez has beaten Xiomara Castro. Your response?
ADRIENNE PINE: Yes, that is the official story that we’re hearing from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Amy, but it contrasts with the numbers that are coming out of the polling places themselves, which show an overwhelming lead for the candidate Xiomara Castro. So, there is real concern on the streets, there’s real concern over the social networks and we are expecting that there will probably — that these results have not been accepted by the Libre Party and we are expecting people will probably be going out on the streets to them protest today.

Guardian: "Both the US ambassador Lisa Kubiske and Ulrike Lunacek, head of the European Union observer mission, said reports from the polls indicated the vote and subsequent count so far were regular.
'We had 110 observers in almost all Honduras states, and we have seen a transparent process with all parties represented at the table,' Kubiske said, noting that there was a system in place for people to peacefully file complaints or contest the results.

This is "transparent" to Lubiske.