Browse Honduras Daily Stories

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.

Honduras's Constitutional Court ruled the Mining Law partially unconstitutional after a twelve-year delay, but legal experts warn that Congress's promised reforms may not actually fix the constitutional defects the court identified.

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.

Honduras's mental-health system is collapsing, with the country's only acute psychiatric hospital receiving 15–20 patients daily and fewer than 70 psychiatrists nationwide, while stigma, lack of prevention, and insufficient public services leave most conditions untreated.

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 trial of three men accused as the triggermen in the 2024 killing of environmental leader Juan López has been postponed to January 18, 2027, to incorporate new evidence from arrests of three additional suspects charged with orchestrating the crime.

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.

A forum on emergency contraception in Honduras found that despite a decree mandating free access in public facilities without a prescription, rural women face significant barriers, pharmacies inconsistently stock the pill, and awareness campaigns remain insufficient.

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.

Rights groups have recorded 108 femicides in Honduras through late May 2026, with activists noting more mutilated victims and a 95% impunity rate that leaves killers largely unpunished.

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.

The Asfura government dissolved the Dipampco police anti-gang unit and created a new Anti-Extortion Division led by Commissioner Jorge Daniel Molina Gálvez, who faces two prior prosecutorial charges for illegal detention and abuse of authority, drawing concern from human-rights groups.

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.

The National Party government is proposing to use private hospital capacity to reduce a public surgery waiting list, drawing warnings from medical leaders that the measure could lead to broader health privatization.

Attorney General Johel Zelaya removed Luis Javier Santos from leading the anti-corruption unit Uferco, reassigning him to a training school, a move former prosecutors warn weakens Honduras's fight against corruption and may serve political interests.