Honduras Politics News

Honduras sold its presidential aircraft for just over $5 million — roughly $9 million less than a previous Nationalist administration paid for it — prompting Libre opposition lawmakers to question the process while the current government says the sale was conducted transparently and proceeds will fund social projects.

Juan Carlos Aguilar, transparency director of the ASJ, expressed concern that electoral reforms lack sufficient votes in Congress, warning that parties face political backlash and voter punishment if they fail to deliver on promised electoral-system fixes.

The National Registry of Persons reports more than 14 million Hondurans are registered, with 51% male and 49% female.

A video showed Yuscarán Mayor Yohny Alejandro Carrasco at a gathering inside the municipal hall with alcohol and people joking about splitting municipal transfer funds; Carrasco apologized but did not clarify the remark about dividing a million lempiras from government transfers.

A Libre congressman said the opposition party supports modernizing Honduras's state power company ENEE but rejects its division into separate corporations, signaling a key policy divide between parties over the utility's future structure.

Lawyer Pavel Espinal argued that labeling the auctioned aircraft "unairworthy" likely deterred potential bidders and raised technical doubts, rejecting the claim that military aircraft are exempt from airworthiness certification requirements.

Defense Secretary Enrique Rodríguez Burchard confirmed that revenue from the sale of Honduras's presidential aircraft—which sold for L137 million (about $5.5 million)—will be allocated to health, education, and the National Autonomous University of Honduras.

Honduras's liquidation commission says it will complete the operational closure of seven institutions created under the previous administration by August, with the Finance Ministry handling final administrative steps in September; audits have uncovered irregularities now under investigation.

Agriculture Minister Moisés Abraham Molina handed the Public Ministry a file documenting agricultural loans granted without proper regulatory compliance under the previous administration.

New Land LLC, a foreign-controlled firm, announced plans for a "smart city" tech park in Honduras's Moskitia region without consulting indigenous communities, prompting local leaders to warn of similarities to controversial autonomous economic zones.

Hugo Maldonado, president of Honduras's human-rights committee CODEH, says violent police evictions of communities established 50 or more years ago are deepening the country's social crisis, urging courts rather than security forces to resolve land disputes.

Honduras must answer to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on August 5 over its failure to implement a 2023 court order reforming impeachment procedures, a case linked to the removal of Prosecutor General Johel Zelaya and Judge Mario Morazán.

A CESPAD environmental-justice adviser says Honduras's persistent agrarian conflicts — involving 77 cases nationwide — are being mishandled by the government, with agroindustrial evictions rising under new legislation that she argues ignores root causes and requires comprehensive land reform.

Lawmakers passed a decree to restructure agricultural debt and forgive arrears, with PROGRANO president Dulio Medina urging the president to sign it to help grain producers regain access to credit and ensure the nation's planting season.

A National Party congressman says proposed reforms to Honduras's energy law aim to rescue the state utility ENEE from financial collapse—it loses about 1.5 billion lempiras monthly—and denies the measure includes privatization, calling reports of a selloff false.

Thebe Ingeniería, a Mexican air transport company, won Honduras's auction of the Embraer Legacy 600 presidential jet with a bid of L137.8 million (about $5.1 million), just over the government's reserve price.

Honduras's audit tribunal (TSC) has launched an investigation into the Agriculture Ministry's Productive Technology Bonus program following complaints of irregularities in fund management, beneficiary selection, and equipment distribution.

Congresswoman Marixa Julín (PINU-SD) said Honduras's power crisis demands reform, noting that companies owe the state power utility nearly 20 billion lempiras ($800 million) and that outdated contracts dating to the 1990s energy crisis must be renegotiated to protect consumers and reduce losses.

The El Progreso municipal council reversed a roughly 300% vehicle-tax hike after four days of protests by transporters, businesses, and residents, restoring prior rates and offering tax credits to those who already paid the higher amount.

Former ENEE chief Erick Tejada accused the current utility head of signaling a government drive to privatize Honduras's electricity sector, citing France, Costa Rica, and other nations as examples of successful public energy systems.

El Salvador's medical college issued a statement opposing the Honduras government's threats to revoke the legal status of the Honduran Medical College (CMH), saying the organization legitimately defends doctors' labor rights, wages, medicine supply, and public health.

Human-rights and democracy organizations are alerting Honduras to the risk that the new Beneficial Owner Law—designed to identify true business owners and combat money laundering—could be weaponized against NGOs and civil-society groups critical of the government, especially if the CNBS uses it to impose extra requirements that block access to financing.

Honduras sent its joint military chief to the 17th Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas in Cusco, Peru, where 33 countries are discussing regional security, disaster response, and armed forces modernization through July 10.

The government unveiled a multisectoral plan to combat food insecurity by 2035, coordinating 13 ministries to boost agricultural output, expand irrigation and financing, establish grain reserves, and strengthen school nutrition programs in rural areas.

Experts and civic groups are demanding transparent audits of municipal vehicle-tax revenues to verify that authorities use the money for road maintenance and improvement, as public protests grow over rate increases that citizens say have not improved street and highway conditions.

Congressman Marco Antonio Midence says passage of a law requiring centralized registration of beneficial owners would help Honduras comply with international anti-money-laundering standards and remove it from the Financial Action Task Force gray list.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights scheduled a public hearing for August 5 in Washington to examine whether Honduras's political-trial process, used against former prosecutor Johel Zelaya and two other officials, meets international standards for judicial independence and due process.

Members of Congress have modified the content of at least three already-approved laws by using parliamentary reconsiderations and amendments to session records—a practice legal analysts say violates the Legislative Organic Law and echoes a 2018 corruption case.

The city council of El Progreso revoked a municipal vehicle-tax increase that sparked protests and roadblocks, and ruled that residents who already paid will receive a credit toward other municipal fees.

Honduras auctioned its Embraer Legacy 600 presidential aircraft to a Mexican engineering company, THEBE Ingeniería y Consultoría, for 137.8 million lempiras (about $5.1 million) on July 10, with the government pledging proceeds to health and education.