Watch: Conservative Honduran Lawmaker Narrowly Survives Bomb Hurled At Her In National Congress

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A shocking scene played out in a Latin American country Thursday, but this time it’s not Venezuela, but nearby Honduras.

A Honduran legislator from the country’s conservative National Party of president-elect Nasry Asfura was speaking to the press within the halls of the Honduran national congress, or just outside, when suddenly an explosive device was thrown, detonating just behind her head. The disturbing incident, which she survived, was filmed given the many cameras around at the time of the attack.

Deputies had been summoned to meet, and the attack victim – Gladis Aurora López – collapsed to the floor during the explosion, her jacket left torn apart.

Witnesses immediately rushed her to begin giving her medical attention, and authorities in a later update announced that her injuries were thankfully not life-threatening.

Lawmakers had gathered to debate a proposal from LIBRE calling for an election recount, despite electoral officials having already declared a winner in December.

Quickly after, accusations and threats are flying, threatening to unleash severe infighting or instability among rival political factions.

Tomás Zambrano, head of the National Party’s congressional delegation, charged the outgoing governing leftist Liberty and Refoundation Party, known as LIBRE, with being behind the incident.

Zambrano denounced the incident as nothing less than attack on the National Party, and it comes at a sensitive moment, where a fiercely contested presidential election at the end of November led to a vote count that dragged on for weeks and ended in a disputed result.

The National Party’s candidate, Nasry Asfura, was eventually proclaimed the victor nearly a month later.

“Today I speak not as a representative, but as a Honduran,” a fellow conservative deputy, Antonio Cesar Rivera, later stated on social media. “I condemn with absolute firmness the cowardly attack against Gladis Aurora Lopez and I stand in solidarity with her.”

He linked the political violence to attacks on the Right, accusing LIBRE groups of attacking him, too. “Those who promote hatred and intimidation are attacking democracy,” he wrote.

It’s as yet unclear what an ongoing police investigation has uncovered, or just who the culprit was. But clearly the country’s congressional building needs to quickly beef up its security protocol.