Browse Honduras Daily Stories

Prosecutors filed opposition to a court order that would release Óscar Ramírez Melgar, accused of killing law student María Fernanda Alemán in February 2025, arguing that pretrial detention is legally required and that his release poses a risk to witnesses and the victim's family.

Honduras's Constitutional Court admitted an appeal by Óscar Ramírez, accused of killing law student María Fernanda Alemán in February 2025, and ordered his provisional release; a judge will review his detention status on October 22.

Colonel Karlthers Medina, former director of Támara prison, has been placed on administrative leave while authorities investigate his role in an L8 million (about $320,000) shortage in the prison canteen funds during his tenure.

Authorities have charged 45 people—23 linked to MS-13, 19 to Barrio 18, and three to Cartel del Diablo—with membership in terrorist organizations following raids between September 21 and October 16; 25 have been formally indicted and 20 await hearings.

Honduran police confiscated more than 550 driver's licenses during traffic enforcement operations over the Morazán holiday weekend for violations of traffic laws.

Honduras's National Police director says major leaders of MS-13, Barrio 18, and the Devil's Cartel remain at large or direct criminal operations from prison, with no top MS-13 chiefs arrested in four years despite U.S. rewards of up to $10 million for their capture.

Gang and organized-crime conflicts rank as the second leading cause of homicides in Honduras at 13% of killings from 2014 to April 2026, with one in three violent deaths in Francisco Morazán and 26% in Cortés attributed to gang violence.

Prosecutors have charged 11 Central Bank of Honduras employees and former employees with negligent embezzlement for allowing ex-prosecutor Francia Medina to withdraw L88.8 million (about $3.5 million) in seized evidence from bank vaults without proper authorization.

A Honduran court sentenced Mauricio Cárcamo León, Isaías Gómez García, and Pedro Edil Carías González to five years in prison for criminal association as members of the 'El Mango' gang, which was dismantled in February 2025 and included former police officers.

Videos from the funeral of a drug lord killed by the Army alongside his wife showed armed attendees firing weapons; the president posted on social media identifying those in the footage as criminals seeking to intimidate the public.

In a video recorded before his murder, Dereck McNeil, a key witness in the four-year-old disappearance of Angie Peña, identified five Atic criminal investigators and alleged they attempted to manipulate the investigation.

Isaac Sandoval, a TikTok personality, was arrested to serve an 18-month prison sentence on a domestic-violence charge related to his ex-partner Daniela Aldana, after being acquitted in a separate case.

Data from Honduras's prison authority show 171 foreign inmates from at least 18 nationalities, with 73 (43%) facing charges or convictions for drug trafficking, reflecting the country's role as a transit route for narcotics to North America.

Honduras recorded 1,001 traffic deaths in the first six months of 2026, an 80-death increase from the same period in 2025, with Cortés department accounting for 216 deaths and speeding and pedestrian accidents in industrial zones cited as major factors.

Authorities are offering more than L410 million (about $16.4 million) in rewards for information leading to the arrest of ten Hondurans and one U.S. citizen, including two MS-13 leaders sought by the FBI for drug trafficking, murder, and kidnapping.

Jeffrey K. Randall, commander of the US military's Joint Interagency Task Force South, arrived in Honduras to meet with President Nasry Asfura and defense officials to review cooperation on drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.

The former director of Honduras's main penitentiary, Colonel Juan Carlos Osorto Castillo, is requesting a full audit of the Támara prison commissary system from its inception, citing unclear profit accounting and lack of inventory records as prior administrations changed, after an alleged eight-million-lempira shortfall was detected.

Official data from the Security Ministry shows 4,542 women were killed violently between 2014 and April 2026—roughly one per day—with intimate-partner violence, personal feuds, and organized crime among the primary causes.

An ATIC criminal investigation file from April 2022 documents meetings between then–congressman Víctor Hugo Romero Chinchilla and then–Security Minister Ramón Sabillón and a prosecutor's official, where Romero allegedly sought protection and support while being investigated for murders; Romero was arrested Friday on murder charges.

The Public Ministry removed General Ramiro Muñoz Bonilla as head of the National Anti-Narcotics Directorate (DLCN) and appointed Commissioner Ever Danilo Mejía Mejía, who has over 30 years of experience in security and criminal investigation, including 17 years working with US agencies including the DEA and FBI.

The National Police began vetting 780 officers for the new Anti-Extortion and Terrorist Associations Division (Daet), which replaces the disbanded Dipampco unit and will focus on extortion, criminal networks, and organized-crime operations.

A government intervention review of the Dipampco found alleged protocol violations, negligence, and possible criminal liability among its leadership, including failures tied to a mission in which five officers were killed and operations conducted without judicial authorization.

An analysis of Security Ministry data found that 349 massacres killed 1,346 Hondurans between 2018 and 2026, with northern and coastal departments—Cortés, Yoro, Atlántida, and Colón—accounting for the majority of victims, and killings stalled between 2025 and 2026 after declines in 2020 and 2024.