Sunday, May 31, 2026

Liberal congresswoman Iroshka Elvir introduced a bill modeled on El Salvador's Bukele security strategy that would build a supermax prison for gang and criminal organization members, citing a worsening violence crisis.

Attorneys for Luis Redondo, the former president of Honduras's National Congress, have formally asked prosecutors to provide the complete investigative file — covering alleged abuse of authority and other offenses — before their client gives a statement, arguing he cannot mount a defense without knowing the charges against him.

The government unveiled a 1.5-billion-lempira (roughly $60 million) incentive program targeting more than 300,000 corn, bean, coffee, and cattle farmers nationwide, with a drought-contingency plan and increased municipal transfers to help communities hardest hit by dry conditions.

The Central Bank's weekly report for May 15–21 shows net international reserves continuing to build — driven by remittances and strong export performance — with Honduras already meeting the liquid-reserve target set for June 2026 under its IMF agreement, despite a modest weekly dip tied to external debt payments.

Also reported by: Banco Central de Honduras (X)

The Banco Central de Honduras auctioned $93.6 million on May 25, yielding a weighted average exchange rate of L26.6543 per U.S. dollar for May 26, 2026.

Tegucigalpa's mayor warned that the capital's water shortage will persist as reservoirs remain critically low — La Concepción at 42% and Los Laureles at 33% — with relief not expected until a new dam, set to serve 350,000 people, is completed in early 2028.

The Health Ministry graduated 94 nursing assistants from the 2024–2026 academic program, adding trained staff to the public health workforce.

Honduras's public health network carried out 1,854 elective surgeries across 29 hospitals in May, clearing 49% of the backlog of patients awaiting non-emergency procedures, the Health Ministry said.

A decree transferring authority over the El Merendón mountain range to the national forestry agency ICF has alarmed the local conservation group Guardianes del Merendón, which warns of deforestation and threats to San Pedro Sula's water supply.

Honduras has mobilized a $70 million humanitarian assistance plan, coordinated with the UN and COPECO, to support roughly 800,000 people affected by drought across the country.

The Education Ministry announced that all public and private schools will resume regular class schedules starting Monday, June 1, after recent rains improved air quality and ended weeks of shortened school days.

The Carlos Eduardo Espina school, a new facility serving dozens of children in Villanueva, Cortés, was inaugurated Monday following a project led by Japanese content creator and activist Shin Fujiyama.

Honduras will host the Third Ibero-American Tourism Forum in San Pedro Sula on June 3, bringing together public and private sector representatives to discuss AI, infrastructure, and connectivity in tourism development.

Karen Flores, a Honduran migrant in Georgia, says she cannot afford plane tickets to return to Honduras with her U.S.-born children after ICE deported her husband, who was the family's sole breadwinner, leaving her in severe financial distress.

Honduran National Police seized a marijuana plantation during a raid in Guaimaca, Francisco Morazán, according to police.

More than 120 National Police officers took part in a saturation operation in Chamelecón, San Pedro Sula, aimed at curbing crime and strengthening security in the area.

Honduran armed forces have destroyed more than 515,000 coca bushes across at least 25 illegal plantations and nine drug-processing sites in six departments so far this year, including a newly secured crop of 16,500 plants in Colón.

Amid rising violence, a former police-vetting commissioner and Security Secretary Gerzon Velásquez are calling for rigorous evaluation of police, prosecutors, and judges to root out criminal ties and effectively combat crime in Honduras.

Retired General Roosevelt Hernández, former chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Attorney General's investigation into the flawed March 2025 primary elections is diverting attention from a surge in massacres that has left roughly 1,000 Hondurans dead so far this year.

Honduras's Public Ministry will summon former National Congress president Luis Redondo and four current lawmakers next week as part of an investigation into the former Permanent Commission, with their legal representatives already notified.

President Nasry Asfura outlined a broad set of government measures including a nationwide smart-meter rollout to cut ENEE losses, debt-relief legislation for electricity customers, drought aid for up to 90 municipalities, higher municipal transfers, and over L 1.1 billion (roughly $44 million) in flood-mitigation works.

Honduras's Congress unanimously approved a resolution committing to greater transparency, including salary deductions for unexcused absences, restrictions on members of Congress handling social-aid funds, and permanent accreditation for civil-society monitors from groups like the ASJ and CNA to observe legislative sessions.

A lawmaker has proposed forgiving Fundaniquem's electricity debt of L 5.46 million (about $218,000), saying the country's only specialized burn-rehabilitation center for children should not bear arrears left by past administrations.

New weekly fuel prices take effect Monday, with super gasoline and diesel dropping in both Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, while regular gasoline and domestic LPG rise slightly, according to the Energy Secretariat.

The Banco Central de Honduras allocated $103.5 million in its May 26 foreign-exchange auction, setting a weighted average exchange rate of L 26.6526 per dollar for May 27.

Honduras's net international reserves accumulated $1.16 billion between January 27 and May 22, 2026, maintaining import coverage of 6.6 months, the Central Bank reported.

The National Logistics Council and National Investment Council signed an agreement under President Nasry Asfura's administration to attract foreign and domestic investment in logistics, trade, and industry, with a goal of creating more than 100,000 formal jobs, backed in part by a 600-million-lempira (about $24 million) expansion of Puerto Cortés's bulk terminal.

Labor Minister Fernando Puerto confirmed no changes to the law requiring employers to pay Honduras's annual 14th-month salary bonus at any point during June 2026, with workers able to file a complaint with the Labor Ministry if payment is not made.

Honduras's Health Ministry confirmed a third fatality linked to New World screwworm and warned of a rising number of cases across the country.

Yorleni Florecita Guzmán Chacón, a preschool teacher in the Dolores Merendón area of Ocotepeque, died on May 29 after a period of serious illness, leaving colleagues, students, and community members grieving her loss.

President Asfura ordered the full reconstruction of a dilapidated school in a Tolupán indigenous community in Francisco Morazán after teacher Marta Carolina Serrano drew national attention for patching its walls with mud and thatch to keep classes running.

Twenty judges, magistrates, and court staff from eight Honduran cities completed a UN-backed trainer program on gender and intersectionality, now mandatory in the Judicial School curriculum, aimed at aligning the justice system with international human-rights standards.

The arrest this month of the alleged killer of Carlos Luna, a forest-rights activist murdered 28 years ago, has brought some relief to his family and renewed attention to the dangers faced by environmental defenders in Honduras.

Antonio Reyes, about 35, was shot and killed by armed assailants while riding a motorcycle in the San Juan neighborhood of Guaimaca, Francisco Morazán, with more than 12 shell casings found at the scene.

Police arrested a man known as 'Cabeza de Toro,' a suspected member of the gang 'El Combo Que No Se Deja,' in the El Bosque neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, seizing 80 packets of alleged crack, marijuana, and cocaine along with a prohibited rifle.

Anti-narcotics police and the Honduran Armed Forces dismantled a coca plantation of roughly 11,000 plants in the mountainous Santa Bárbara area of Iriona municipality, Colón department.

Security Minister Gerzon Velásquez confirmed the creation of the National Agency to Combat Crime (ANC), which will combine the National Police, military police, prosecutors, and intelligence services to target high-violence areas under a Honduras-specific security model distinct from El Salvador's approach.

Also reported by: TuNota (Canal 5 / TSI)