Wednesday, July 15, 2026 — Evening Edition

President Nasry Asfura led a symbolic visit to Conejo Island in the Pacific with top civilian and military officials to reassert Honduras's sovereignty after El Salvador sent a diplomatic note demanding that Honduras stop exercising jurisdiction over the territory, citing a 1992 International Court of Justice ruling.

As of May 2026, the external debt of Honduras's central bank consisted of loans (59.4%), Special Drawing Rights allocations (38.8%), and other instruments (1.8%).

Obed García of the ASJ argues that Honduras must streamline its 116 public institutions and trim bureaucratic overhead to spend more efficiently and clear regulatory barriers that slow investment.

Honduras posted a 5.83% annual inflation rate in June, the highest in Central America, with economist Dante Mossi warning that subsidy cuts and rising prices are driving the poor toward extreme hardship and dampening consumer spending.

Juan Carlos Hernández, president of Honduras's Colegio de Economistas, defended the central bank's decision to hold its benchmark interest rate steady, arguing that lower rates could fuel inflation by putting more money in circulation without a matching rise in goods and services.

Honduras's maritime authority has opened jobs on international cruise ships across deck, security, engineering, technical services, IT, and administration, with applications due by July 17.

As of May 2026, Honduras's external public debt stood at $10.76 billion, with 70.1% owed to multilateral organizations, 20.9% to commercial creditors, and 9.0% to bilateral lenders.

Honduras's Opportunity Electricity Market (MEO), created in 2019, is attracting fresh investment in power generation; by May 2026 it supplied 16.62% of national output through 39 plants, though faster payments to generators have raised Enee's purchase costs.

Honduras's banking system holds nearly 200 billion lempiras (about $8 billion) in excess liquidity, and economists say the central bank must manage the surplus and hold its policy rate to avoid stoking inflation.

Finance Minister Emilio Hernández Hércules reported that Honduras has spent more than 42% of its 48-billion-lempira budget (about $1.9 billion) two and a half months after its April approval, with outlays focused on infrastructure, health, and upcoming housing programs through Banhprovi.

Obed García, an economist at the Association for Justice, says Honduras should use public borrowing to fund infrastructure and productive projects rather than other spending, pointing to existing road and economic plans and the need to create jobs for 300,000 unemployed people.

The Honduran fuel distributors' association says price cuts reach consumers more slowly than increases because of volatile global markets, summer demand spikes abroad, and geopolitical uncertainty over Middle Eastern shipping routes.

The national power utility ENEE has announced maintenance outages on July 16 affecting neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, and other parts of Honduras, with disruptions running from early morning through mid-afternoon in each area.

The municipal government of Tegucigalpa-Comayagüela is carrying out 14 mitigation and prevention projects to relocate 160,000 people from flood and landslide zones, aiming to finish by year-end and to hand out $400 home-repair bonuses to 100 families hit by recent rains.

Tegucigalpa faces a water shortfall of roughly 100 million cubic meters, and officials say the planned San José dam, while helpful, will not meet the capital's growing demand; authorities are contracting private wells and studying water transfers from other regions.

Firefighters in Catacamas, Olancho, rescued 22-year-old Meyling Griselda Baca Vallejo after her arm became trapped in an industrial tortilla machine; she was taken to a hospital for emergency care.

A management commission appointed by Congress has deepened administrative chaos and political meddling at Honduras's National Agricultural University through irregular appointments, salary increases, and procedural violations, according to a commissioner's complaint.

Honduras's national disaster agency raised Gracias a Dios department to yellow alert on July 15 and kept five Olancho municipalities on green alert for 24 hours as steady rain from an upper-level trough lifts river levels and flood risk along the Caribbean coast.

Also reported by: Once Noticias

Two young people vanished while trying to cross the Patuca River in Honduras, and the search continues.

Honduran club Olimpia lost 5–0 to MLS side FC Cincinnati in its second and final warm-up match in the United States, capping a rough tour in which the team conceded eight goals without scoring.

Police arrested a couple accused of drug trafficking and seized cocaine, more than 60,000 lempiras in cash (about $2,400), firearms, and surveillance equipment from a distribution hub in Las Flores, Lempira.

An autopsy confirmed that businessman and rancher Rodbin Antonio Suazo, 49, died from a fall in a remote area of Comayagua, with no criminal involvement, police said.

Also reported by: Radio HRN, Radio América Honduras, Radio Cadena Voces (X)

An 11-year-old boy, José Ramón Gutiérrez Maldonado, was fatally stabbed while resting in a hammock in Balfate, Colón; police arrested a man known locally as "Piolín" who is believed to have a mental illness.

Also reported by: El Heraldo, Radio Cadena Voces (RCV), Radio Cadena Voces (X)

Reina Fabiola Salinas Cáceres was convicted of unlawful association after prosecutors argued she was an active member of Pandilla 18 (18th Street Gang), not merely the partner of gang leader Ricky Alexander Zelaya Camacho, alias 'Boxer Huber,' who was arrested in 2017.

Also reported by: Radio HRN, Infobae – Honduras