Sunday, May 31, 2026

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)