Narco Trafficking

Security analyst José Ponce Alvarado attributes 11 massacres and 59 deaths across Yoro, Atlántida, and Colón in 2026 to historic drug-trafficking routes, gang activity, and insufficient police control in departments where criminal structures operate with relative impunity.

Honduran armed forces report inflicting L324 million (roughly $13 million) in losses on drug trafficking networks so far in 2026 through crop destruction, lab dismantling, and seizures of cocaine, weapons, and vehicles, even as criminal groups shift routes and rebuild.

Three of Honduras's five massacres so far this year have occurred in Yoro department, where rival criminal gangs, maras, drug-trafficking networks, and land-invasion groups are competing for territory across municipalities including Olanchito, El Progreso, and Sulaco.