Salvador Alejandro César Nasralla Salum (born 30 January 1953) is a Honduran politician who served as the First Vice President of Honduras from 2022 until his resignation in 2024. A member of the Liberal Party, he has been described as a centrist. He describes himself as center-right.
Nasralla began his career in business, before becoming the presenter of the TV programs 5 Deportivo and X-0 da Dinero; he has been called "El señor de la televisión" ("The TV Man"). He founded the Anti-Corruption Party in 2011 and stood for president in the 2013 Honduran general election, coming in fourth place. Nasralla ran again in the 2017 general election for the political alliance Alianza de Oposición contra la Dictadura, comprising Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) and the Innovation and Unity Party; he narrowly lost to incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernández, despite widespread claims of fraud and irregularities. After the election Nasralla temporarily retired from politics before creating the Savior Party of Honduras in 2019. Initially planning to run as the party's presidential nominee, he ultimately withdrew his candidacy to become the running mate of Libre presidential nominee Xiomara Castro, who would win the 2021 general election. After serving as Vice President for two years, Nasralla resigned to run unsuccessfully in the 2025 general election, securing the nomination of the Liberal Party, but losing to National Party nominee Nasry Asfura by a narrow margin.
Early life Nasralla was born in Tegucigalpa on January 30, 1953. His parents, Alejandro Nasralla and Alicia Salum, are Palestinian Christians from Beit Jala east of Bethlehem, and his mother was born in Chile. He spent his childhood in the northern city of Trujillo, Colón. At the age of eleven, his family returned to Tegucigalpa. There, he completed his secondary studies at Instituto San Francisco and obtained his high school diploma. During his adolescence he began working as a journalist, at Emisoras Unidas from 1966 to 1969, and in Uniradio and Radio Católica. He also took classes in drama and television.
After high school, Nasralla was sent to live with his maternal aunt and uncle in Santiago de Chile. There, he attended the Catholic University of Chile where he graduated with honors. He obtained a degree in Civil Industrial Engineering (specializing in construction). He subsequently earned a Master of Business Administration from the same university.
Professional career After returning from Chile, Nasralla became the CEO of Pepsi Honduras. He also became a professor at the National Autonomous University of Honduras, where he gave lectures on business and engineering. During this period, Nasralla expressed disappointment with the educational standards he observed, noting the low level of education among his students.
In 1981, he started his career in television by hosting the program "5 Deportivo," which continues to be broadcast every Sunday on Channel 5 of Corporación Televicentro to this day. He served as the head of press for the Honduran soccer team during their participation in the 1982 World Cup in Spain. On 3 March 1990, Nasralla launched "X-0 da Dinero," a quiz show offering cash prizes, which has become one of the most popular TV shows in Honduras, still airing every Sunday.
Beyond these shows, Nasralla has been the presenter and director of various programs and special events, including the Miss Honduras beauty pageant and the dance competition show "Bailando por un sueño" (Honduras). He has also represented Televicentro as a special envoy to the Viña del Mar music festival in Chile. Additionally, Nasralla is a columnist for Diario Diez and hosted his political proselytism program, "Salvador a las 7," which was broadcast for two years every Sunday on Hondured Channel 13 and is available on his official YouTube channel.
Political career
2013 presidential campaign Before 2013, Nasralla, Luis Redondo, and others formed the Anti-Corruption Party (PAC). By August 2013, the PAC was officially recognized as a political party by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Honduras, appointing Nasralla as its president and Rafael Virgilio Padilla Paz as vice president. This enabled Nasralla to participate in the 2013 presidential election. He was the official presidential candidate for the PAC in the November 2013 elections. He received 418,443 votes, 13.43% of the total. In a 2019 interview, Nasralla claimed that he had actually won the election with 1,066,000 votes, but due to the absence of his party's representatives at the polling stations, the majority parties — the National Party, National Party, and Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) — were able to manipulate the vote counts against him.
Throughout his campaign, Nasralla was openly critical of the three major political parties in Honduras. In his interactions with the media, he stated, "The worst thing that can happen to Honduras is [the election of] Partido Libre or Partido Nacional, the two extremist parties that have plunged the country into underdevelopment." He further commented on the similarity between the Liberal and National Parties, describing them as "the same thing," with one representing the extreme right and the other the extreme left. Additionally, Nasralla clarified his stance regarding the Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre), emphasizing that he had "nothing to do with Libre," in response to what he perceived as an extensive campaign by the nationalists to associate him with that political faction.
These assertions gained further credibility a decade later when the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York provided a summary of evidence, just months before the trial of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was set to begin. The allegations detailed in this evidence include electoral fraud in both the 2013 and 2017 elections, alongside accusations of bribery and protection afforded to drug traffickers, including the notorious Sinaloa cartel. These were part of the shocking revelations from the New York Prosecutor's Office regarding the case against the former president.
During the party's registration process, the Scout movement of Honduras raised concerns about the PAC's use of the fleur-de-lis, an emblem also associated with the international Scout movement. Ultimately, both parties agreed to a resolution regarding the use of the insignia.
Aftermath During the first year of the new government in 2014, Salvador Nasralla, as president of the Anti-Corruption Party (PAC), raised concerns about the integrity of some members within his party. In September of that year, he publicly denounced that none of the 13 PAC deputies in Congress had complied with the agreed salary contribution to the party. By mid-2015, internal conflicts escalated within PAC when Nasralla criticized several PAC deputies, labeling them as "bad apples", with the exception of Luis Redondo, the head of the bench. This criticism came after these deputies supported a reform to the Social Security law.
As a result of these tensions, 11 deputies voted to change the leadership of the bench, replacing the chief and deputy chief with Fátiman Mena. Nasralla attributed this shift in leadership to the influence of the National Party on the PAC deputies. Towards the end of 2015, further disputes arose between Nasralla and other party leaders, including Luis Redondo. Nasralla disclosed that Redondo had blocked his accounts on social networks, highlighting ongoing discord within the party leadership.
In February 2016, Salvador Nasralla labeled PAC deputies Marlene Alvarenga, Kritza Pérez, Ana Joselina Fortín, and a substitute deputy as traitors for not adhering to the party’s guidelines during the election of the new Supreme Court of Justice, suggesting that they had received bribes for their actions. As a result, Marlene Alvarenga accused Nasralla of mistreating the female deputies of PAC, and Ana Joselina resigned from her deputy leadership position in the PAC congressional group.
Nasralla denied these accusations in an interview, further criticizing the PAC bench by stating it was "no longer of any use to him" because it had "compromised the future of Honduras" by electing a Court allied with President Juan Orlando Hernández. He also stated that the four deputies who had not followed the party line were now part of the National Party. Several months later, Ana Joselina and Kritza Pérez resigned from PAC, which Nasralla described as a "self-cleansing" of the political institution. By the end of 2016, another deputy, Jaime Villegas, resigned following Nasralla's expressions of regret for having brought "public figures to PAC, like football players."
During 2016, Salvador Nasralla faced further internal conflict within the Anti-Corruption Party (PAC) after he chose to appoint two advisors who were not members of PAC. This decision led to confrontations with Deputy Luis Redondo and Deputy Fátima Mena, who both disapproved of the appointments. Nasralla subsequently launched several attacks against them. On one occasion, he suggested that Mena, "probably because of her youth and because she is a woman," was susceptible to being deceived by other deputies. Mena condemned this statement, calling it an attack on both youth and women.
Additionally, following several public remarks by Redondo about Nasralla and the ongoing conflicts within PAC, Nasralla responded by claiming that Redondo suffered from a mental illness, which, according to Nasralla, discredited his statements. On 2 November 2016, Redondo expelled Virgilio Padilla, an ally of Nasralla, from the National Council—the highest governing body of PAC. This left the Council composed of Nasralla, Redondo and his wife, and Fátima Mena.
In 2017, the Anti-Corruption Party (PAC) conducted two internal election processes. The first one took place on 9 April, which was deemed illegal by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) just two days earlier. The TSE declared the elections non-compliant with the Electoral and Political Organizations Law because the call for elections was made on 2 December 2016, at a time when the National Council—the highest governing body of PAC—was vacant. The TSE then ordered the elections to be rescheduled for 21 May, ensuring compliance with the law.
Despite the TSE's mandate, Salvador Nasralla and his supporters proceeded with the elections on 9 April. For these elections, they compiled an electoral census of 25,000 people who cast their votes in 170 polling stations across the country. The ballots listed two movements: the Salvador Nasralla Movement and United for Honduras, led by Marlene Alvarenga, who decided not to participate in these elections. Nasralla declared himself the winner, although the TSE did not recognize the results of these elections.
On 21 May, the Anti-Corruption Party (PAC) held the rescheduled internal elections, as mandated by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. In these elections, all three factions within the party rallied behind a consensus candidate, PAC deputy Marlene Alvarenga, who had previously been in bitter conflict with Salvador Nasralla. Following these elections, Alvarenga emerged as the new president of the PAC and its official candidate for future electoral contests.
2013 electoral fraud