Browse Honduras Daily Stories

Former president Manuel Zelaya criticized Congress's approval of an energy-reform law as a surrender of state control to private corporations, arguing it exemplifies how élites and external political pressure undermine Honduran democracy.

The National Autonomous University of Honduras reversed its March decision to adopt the royal blue used by the ruling National Party, returning to the official turquoise-sky blue specified in the 1866 flag decree and a 2021 university study.

A former National Electoral Council representative claims Argentine strategist Fernando Cerimedo ran Asfura's data operation and coordinated foreign support, alleging unprecedented outside interference in Honduras's 2026 election.

Libre's Rixi Moncada is urging Honduras's Public Ministry to investigate Argentine consultant Fernando Cerimedo, a former Nasry Asfura advisor, over audio recordings allegedly revealing a fraud scheme in the 2025 elections.

Luis Javier Santos, a former UFERCO prosecutor, says Honduras's judiciary has long protected impunity by weakening, shelving, or stalling corruption cases — including Hermes, Arca Abierta, and a deputy-fund scheme — before they reach conviction.

A coordinator at a Honduran civil-society organization warned that the recently approved Agro-Industrial Law threatens territorial rights of Garífuna, Indigenous, and other communities, citing concerns over Article 77's land regularization rules and violations of Inter-American Court rulings.

Christian Duarte, a former finance secretary, criticized Juan Orlando Hernández's return to Honduras after receiving a U.S. presidential pardon, calling him the leader of a criminal organization whose rule plunged the country into darkness and asserting he still owes a debt to Honduran justice.

Ricardo Cardona, private secretary to ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández, returned to Honduras after four years in Nicaragua, denying any criminal charges despite multiple open corruption investigations against him.

A former National Electoral Council representative endorsed electoral reforms including a presidential runoff system, citizen-selected voting boards to replace party representatives, and independent selection of electoral council members, citing concerns about fraud and legitimacy.

The Patriotic Solidarity Coalition has called on Congress to strengthen a bipartisan electric-sector reform bill before passage, arguing it must address structural causes of the ENEE crisis—including arrears, technical losses, and governance failures—while guaranteeing state control of the system.

A prominent defense lawyer argues that Honduras's justice system treats environmental and land-rights activists like high-risk criminals while showing leniency toward powerful figures, citing the cases of Guapinol and five Garifuna defenders arrested in San Juan.

Former Agriculture Minister Laura Elena Suazo rejected her successor's allegations of irregularities in the Productive Technology Bonus program, saying all financial records were handed over during the January 2026 transition and that she welcomes any audit.

Lawyer Reyna Rivera warns that Honduras's special economic zones (ZEDEs) are expanding their territorial control despite a 2024 Supreme Court ruling declaring them unconstitutional and Congressional repeal of their enabling law, with 4% of Roatán now under their jurisdiction.

Economist Ismael Zepeda questions the performance of Honduras's Superior Court of Accounts, which received a budget exceeding 1 billion lempiras (about $40 million) but referred only five cases of alleged illicit enrichment by officials to prosecutors in four years.

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.

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.

A Libre congressman argues that collecting millions owed by large corporations to the state electricity utility ENEE would shore up its finances and make privatization unnecessary, and has called for public disclosure of the major delinquent accounts.

José Azcona, a Liberal Party engineer and former congressman, argues that the government's proposed restructuring of the state power utility into three private-market companies would effectively privatize the electricity market and raise costs for poor consumers, though he says ENEE can be rescued without direct privatization.

Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, pardoned by Trump in December 2025, may face a new US investigation into the 2022 murder of Said Lobo, son of ex-president Porfirio Lobo, with potential charges of conspiracy and murder of a US citizen carrying life imprisonment or death penalty.

A specialized tribunal sentenced five people—two former Social Security Institute executives and three construction contractors—to prison terms and fines for their roles in a scheme to embezzle nearly 158 million lempiras (about $6.3 million) through irregular infrastructure contracts awarded between 2010 and 2013.

Attorney Omar Menjívar argues that a bipartisan electrical-sector reform advancing in Congress would leave the state-owned utility ENEE intact but progressively transfer control of power service delivery to private companies, citing the precedent of Hondutel's decline after losing core telecom functions to private providers.

Former presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla called for scrapping and replacing the National Electoral Council, arguing it is controlled by political parties and risks repeating fraud in the 2029 elections, echoing concerns raised by Honduras's anticorruption council.

Honduras's joint military commander said the country is in dialogue with the United States about joint "combat operations" against organized crime under Trump's Americas Anti-Cartel Coalition, with the decision resting with President Nasry Asfura.

A coalition of Honduran civic leaders has presented Congress with 12 preliminary conditions for the electric-sector reform, including legal protections against privatization of the state-owned energy company ENEE and stronger public oversight of its strategic assets.

Honduras's engineering college says a draft reform to the national electricity law could threaten sector stability by exempting state-owned subsidiaries from traditional asset controls and lacks binding mechanisms to address endemic technical and non-technical losses.

The union representing ENEE employees opposes splitting the state utility into three private companies and proposes instead an internal reorganization by distribution, operation, transmission, and generation aimed at reducing losses while keeping the utility public.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that Honduras's newly approved agroindustrial law could harm indigenous and rural communities' land and territorial rights and deepen social conflict, urging Congress to align it with international standards.

Garifuna and indigenous leaders warn that Honduras's new Agroindustrial Law, designed to strengthen property rights and attract investment, risks displacing ancestral communities whose territorial claims and international protections remain unresolved.

Honduras's Liberal Party announced it will not support the government's electric-sector reform as written, instead proposing its own bill to preserve ENEE's public status, prevent privatization, and include workforce protections, fair tariffs, and financial audits.

Former president Manuel Zelaya has accused the National Party of orchestrating criminal investigations against 13 former members of Congress's permanent commission, including ex-Congress president Luis Redondo, over their role in a January 2026 legislative session that debated a recount of disputed electoral ballots.