Browse Honduras Daily Stories

Former election officials have proposed roughly 70 amendments to Honduras's electoral law, including a presidential runoff requiring constitutional reform, a ban on leaves of absence for election council members, and measures to combat disinformation in campaigns.

Over 70 rural, indigenous, and Garífuna organizations held nationwide road blockades and demonstrations on July 20 demanding the government repeal three decrees that criminalize land claims, broaden the definition of terrorism, and shield agricultural and energy-sector lands from legal challenges including agrarian reform.

Civil-society organizations are pressing Congress to prioritize electoral reforms including a presidential runoff, depoliticization of voting boards, and strengthening of electoral institutions, but lawmakers have not yet scheduled debate on substantive changes ahead of 2029 elections.

Former anti-corruption unit chief Luis Javier Santos says the Superior Court of Accounts issued clearance documents that accused officials used to avoid criminal prosecution, calling the institution a politically controlled body that served to shield the corrupt rather than hold them accountable.

Marta María Saire, twice sexually assaulted while under state care as a child, remains inadequately supported despite a 2003 IACHR friendly-settlement agreement requiring Honduras to provide her comprehensive rehabilitation.

More than a month after Honduras's government unveiled a national anti-corruption strategy to replace a planned international commission, President Nasry Asfura has not yet named the Presidential Commissioner for Transparency who would lead it, raising doubts about the plan's independence and real authority.

President Asfura and his government are supporting the Satuyé Technology & Data Center, a Prospera-backed project in La Ceiba combining data infrastructure and AI services developed jointly with MAG Technologies Group, though experts warn of data-security and environmental concerns.

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.

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.

Police in northern Honduras are invoking recently passed legislation—including an expanded terrorism statute and an agro-industrial protection decree—to suppress civic protests and conduct evictions, drawing accusations of excessive force and rights violations from human-rights groups and community leaders.

Deputy Prosecutor Marcio Cabañas Cadillo received a L54,600 salary increase in May 2026, raising his monthly earnings to L309,637, while lower-ranking prosecutors and detectives earn a fraction of that amount.

Rural, indigenous, and human-rights organizations filed a constitutional challenge seeking to suspend Decree 107-2026, which they say enables land seizures and strips protections from campesino and indigenous communities to shield agribusiness, energy, tourism, and ranching projects.

Former President Juan Orlando Hernández, pardoned after a US conviction, will return to Honduras on July 31, but the Prosecutor's Office — which in 2022 cited alleged financial and corporate ties to drug traffickers when seizing his assets — never converted that allegation into criminal charges.

The Asfura administration briefed leaders of the Evangelical Confraternity of Honduras on its proposed energy-sector restructuring bill; Criterio.hn, a critical outlet, reports that opponents argue the measure amounts to privatization of ENEE and would ultimately drive up electricity prices for consumers.

A civil-society watchdog warns that the Asfura administration is advancing laws that criminalize peasant and indigenous land claims while protecting agribusiness interests, citing passage of a sweeping anti-terrorism statute, an agroindustrial-protection law, and a self-defense expansion tied to property defense.

Amnesty International's Americas director said recent Honduran laws—including an expanded terrorism definition and an agro-industrial sector measure—resemble patterns seen elsewhere in Latin America that have been used to criminalize protest, though she noted Amnesty has not yet formally analyzed them.

The Association for a More Just Society and the National Anti-Corruption Council have endorsed a proposal to split Honduras's state electricity company (ENEE) into three commercial companies for generation, transmission, and distribution, but analysts say the groups have softened their oversight of the Asfura government and that the reform has not been adequately discussed with the public.

The World Bank, IDB, CAF, and BCIE have endorsed the government's plan to split the state electricity company into three entities for generation, transmission, and distribution, but critics warn it masks privatization and demand broader public consultation.

The Supreme Court of Justice submitted a draft law to Congress to reestablish the Judicial Council, a body dissolved a decade ago after constitutional challenges, as part of efforts to reorganize the judiciary's administration and discipline.

The National Congress has failed to respond to transparency requests for information on institutional advertising spending, deputy travel allowances, and legislative social programs, violating the 10-business-day legal deadline.

Two days after approving the Agroindustrial Protection Law, Congress modified it outside normal legislative procedure to extend tax and permitting benefits to energy and tourism sectors, a move critics say violates parliamentary rules and threatens indigenous and Garífuna lands.

Honduras's Public Ministry is investigating whether campaign funds from former Liberal presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla were illegally diverted to foreign accounts, allegations Nasralla denies as political persecution.

An examination by the international organization Witness of three of 37 leaked audios known as HondurasGate concluded that one recording, in which former president Juan Orlando Hernández allegedly asks current president Nasry Asfura for funds to create a digital operation against leftist movements in Mexico, Colombia, and Honduras, is probably genuine, while two others show signs of AI manipulation.

Congress is moving toward approving a structural reform that would divide the state-owned ENEE into three separate commercial entities for generation, transmission, and distribution, with energy experts warning the changes open a path to privatization and could weaken the utility's financial stability.

Honduras's deaf community has complained that the National Congress hired an unqualified sign-language interpreter for official broadcasts, violating their right to equal access to information, and is calling for a certified professional.

Congress approved a temporary waiver of fines and sanctions for 2025 election candidates who failed to file required campaign finance reports or establish separate campaign bank accounts, giving them two months to comply before penalties take effect.

Jorge Alberto Cálix Orellana, whose brother Mario José "Cubeta" Cálix was extradited to the US on drug charges, has been appointed director of the OABI, the state agency that administers assets seized from traffickers—a move that prompted a rights lawyer to warn of potential conflicts of interest.

Environmental and human-rights organizations are calling on President Asfura to veto a newly approved law strengthening agroindustry protections, arguing it weakens environmental controls, blocks land reform, and criminalizes peasant land claims under the guise of fighting land invasions.

Jorge Alberto Cálix Orellana has been appointed director of Honduras's agency that administers assets seized from drug traffickers, sparking concerns over conflict of interest because his brother Mario José Cálix—a major trafficker extradited to the US in 2024—had substantial property and accounts seized by the same institution.

Congress approved penal code changes on May 18 that formally classify gangs and drug-trafficking networks as terrorist associations, but legal experts and human-rights groups warn the expanded, vague wording could be used against protesters and social movements.