Organized Crime

A judge ordered two brothers, Denis Josué and Junior Joel Puerto Ramos, held pending trial for the May murder and incineration of three men in El Cimarrón, with an initial hearing set for August 27; four suspects are now in the case.

The Public Ministry's anti-drug directorate and the Armed Forces seized a bundle containing 20 packages of alleged cocaine on a Choluteca beach, recovered abandoned at the shoreline in a black-wrapped package typical of organized-crime maritime drug trafficking.

Police say video surveillance and witness statements place Carlos Eduardo Zaldívar Cervantes, alias El Texas, at the killing of law student Marvin Fernández in San Pedro Sula; prosecutors plan to seek his arrest on the murder charge after he faces an initial hearing on drug-trafficking allegations.

Police say businessman Jaime Roberto Becker Menardi, shot dead outside his motorcycle and car dealership in San Pedro Sula on August 8, likely was killed over financial debts to friends, according to investigators working several theories.

ATIC agents and military intelligence arrested Yasser José Castillo Méndez on charges of aggravated drug trafficking as a member of "Los Castillos," a criminal organization operating in Honduras's southern region.

Jesús Renán Guardado, 39, a miner who had worked for a company in El Mochito for 17 years, was shot and killed on a road near Las Vegas, Santa Bárbara on the morning of August 15; his father said the family had no involvement in any disputes.

Honduras's telecommunications authority reports that Israeli-made signal-blocking technology deployed across 21 prisons has cut outgoing calls by 99%, though inmates continue to evade restrictions by smuggling mobile devices and using Wi-Fi messaging apps.

Police arrested a 33-year-old man known as 'El Guero' in San Pedro Sula on suspicion of being a sicario (hired killer) and coordinator of MS-13's contract-killing operations in the city; he was found with cocaine, crack, ammunition, and a firearm, and has a 14-year criminal history dating to a 2009 homicide.

Panelists at Contracorriente Fest 2026 in Tegucigalpa argued that combating organized crime requires strong institutions, prevention, and transparency rather than emergency measures that erode democratic rights, citing El Salvador's mass detentions and documented human-rights abuses.

Intelligence reports say the Coleman organization, which works for the Sinaloa cartel, controls maritime drug-smuggling routes at Puerto Cortés; one member was arrested during Operation Mare Nostrum on August 3, but leader Luis Felipe Aguilera Coleman escaped.

Police arrested two men, ages 45 and 21, allegedly linked to the criminal organization run by alias 'Juan el Malón,' a figure authorities accuse of orchestrating violence, forced displacement, and illegal logging in the Merendón reserve area.

Police have neutralized at least 10 self-kidnapping hoaxes from January through July, in which perpetrators—often family members—fake abduction to extort money, documents, or property from relatives, a crime criminologists attribute to eroding social values and economic desperation.

A Honduran court approved the extradition of 30-year-old Humberto Eliseo Sánchez Baca, known as "El Chevo," to El Salvador, where he faces charges of aggravated extortion, organized crime, and conspiracy to commit murder.

A National Court judge suspended abbreviated proceedings against Gloria Judith Hernández Zelaya after she retracted her statement before the court in a case involving organized crime, environment, and corruption charges.

The Judicial School held a national gathering of specialized judges on organized crime, environmental, and corruption cases, aimed at strengthening judicial capacity and rule-of-law enforcement with support from the U.S. Embassy's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau.

Four cousins—ages 14, 15, 20, and undisclosed—were kidnapped from their homes in La Ceiba, Atlántida, and later found dead and bound in two locations across the city.

Honduran authorities intercepted a shipment containing two AR-15 rifles, two fragmentation grenades, two empty magazines, and military uniforms at a bus depot in Puerto Cortés on July 10, sparking an investigation into the intended recipient and a suspected criminal organization.

Reina Fabiola Salinas Cáceres was convicted of unlawful association after prosecutors argued she was an active member of Pandilla 18 (18th Street Gang), not merely the partner of gang leader Ricky Alexander Zelaya Camacho, alias 'Boxer Huber,' who was arrested in 2017.

The National Police graduated 20 officers as specialists in anti-drug tactical operations after completing a training course designed to strengthen capabilities against drug trafficking and organized crime.

A judge held an initial hearing against Wilmer Alexander Mejía Medina on charges of extorting a protected witness, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for July 21.

Experts say about 20% of Honduras's homicides involve attackers on motorcycles, a tactic that allows rapid execution and escape; a 2012 law banning two men per bike in certain municipalities remains poorly enforced.

More than 8,000 Honduran women have been murdered since 2005, with 139 cases recorded through June 2026, and the OV-UNAH warns crimes are growing more brutal, with patterns linked to organized crime.

Residents of the Loarque neighborhood in southern Tegucigalpa discovered a dismembered body stuffed in a sack that unknown assailants threw from a vehicle; the victim's identity remains unknown.

A court ordered Anyi Yariela Mejía Interiano, 28, to stand trial for aggravated drug trafficking after police seized 154 packages of suspected cocaine and $2,000 in cash from a vehicle she was driving in Namasigüe on June 29; her mother received provisional dismissal.

National Police Director Rigoberto Oseguera Mass has reinstated officers previously removed by a 2016–2018 purge, including Francisco Javier Leiva Gamoneda, accused in a 2016 investigation of involvement in the 2009 killing of a drug-enforcement director, and Jorge Alberto Barralaga Hernández, convicted of money laundering in 2021.

Prosecutors seized 228 assets worth over 420 million lempiras (about $17 million) linked to the Los Domínguez criminal organization in a simultaneous operation across Choluteca and Valle departments, including property, businesses, and financial accounts allegedly connected to drug trafficking and money laundering.

A specialized national tribunal convicted six people of drug trafficking, illegal weapons possession, and criminal association; sentencing is scheduled for August 7.

Police arrested four members of the criminal gang known as Los Sagastume on June 25, accused of kidnapping businessman Héctor Eduardo Lisser Pinto in April 2025; the victim was rescued after 36 hours in captivity.

Honduras's public-transport sector reports paying roughly 500 million lempiras (about $20 million) annually to criminal gangs, with some bus and taxi routes in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula now shuttered due to threats and attacks on drivers.

Former President Juan Orlando Hernández's defense filed a motion to keep his case in the Supreme Court rather than transfer it to the specialized organized-crime court, with a scheduled appearance set for August 3 on fraud and money-laundering charges in the 'Pandora II' case.