Browse Honduras Daily Stories

Honduras's Supreme Court has recommended that Congress reinstate the Effective Collaboration Law, a mechanism allowing prosecutors to work with organized-crime figures to dismantle criminal structures and reach higher-level leaders with verifiable evidence.

The Viva Berta encampment in Tegucigalpa, set up by Garífuna communities defending their ancestral lands from drug traffickers and commercial developers, confronts organized-crime pressure and state criminalization of land activists.

Congress President Tomás Zambrano has not ruled out a popular referendum to let citizens decide whether minors involved in gangs and organized crime should be tried as adults, a proposal drawing debate among legal experts about constitutional limits and international child-protection obligations.

Marco Paz, president of Congress's Security Commission, says lawmakers have passed anti-extortion reforms, given the security council power to designate criminal groups as terrorist organizations, and reformed prison regimes, while acknowledging that deputies have received threats for their action.

Congress President Tomás Zambrano traveled to El Salvador with members of the legislative security commission to tour the Cecot terrorism prison and explore legal reforms and security cooperation between the two countries to combat organized crime.

Honduran congressional security committees will travel to El Salvador to study the CECOT high-security prison model as lawmakers weigh penal reforms to combat organized crime.

Garífuna communities on Honduras' Caribbean coast fighting to reclaim ancestral land face intimidation from drug traffickers and organized-crime charges from the state, two years after a 2024 government land-demarcation mission was abandoned under threats.

Tomás Zambrano, president of the National Congress, said Honduras will combat gang violence and organized crime through new anti-terrorism legislation and reforms rather than declaring a state of exception, which he said suspends rights for the entire population.

Congress President Tomás Zambrano announced a proposed reform that would allow funds seized from organized crime to fund police, prosecutors, courts, and the military even before final conviction, rather than holding them during ongoing trials.

Attorney General Pablo Emilio Reyes is requesting a budget increase to L2.9 billion (about $116 million) and roughly double or triple the current 796 prosecutors to strengthen the Public Ministry's capacity to investigate organized crime and pursue serious offenses.

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.

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.

Honduras's Congress unanimously passed a law requiring businesses to disclose their true beneficial owners in a new centralized registry, aiming to combat money laundering, corruption, and terrorist financing.

A congressional committee approved a bill that would impose life sentences and other severe penalties for killing or attempting to kill police, soldiers, judges, and other security and justice officials in connection with their duties, with the measure now headed to a floor vote.

Congress expects to vote soon on security reforms including measures to deny substitute sentences to gang members, regulate gang tattoos, and extend detention-hearing deadlines to 48 hours, pending a Supreme Court legal opinion due next week.

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.

Liberal Party congressman Salomón Nazar has introduced legislation to create a protected-identity program for judges and court staff handling organized crime, drug trafficking, and terrorism cases, with safeguards requiring court approval and preserving due-process rights.