Friday, July 17, 2026

Foreign Minister Mireya Agüero said she will meet El Salvador's foreign minister in the coming days to discuss Isla Conejo, a long-disputed islet in the Gulf of Fonseca, adding that relations between the two countries remain constructive.

Former president Juan Orlando Hernández, pardoned by President Trump in 2025 after his extradition to the US on drug-trafficking charges, will return to Honduras on July 26 to face fraud and money-laundering charges in the Pandora II case, with a court hearing set for August 3.

Venezuelans living in Honduras and Honduran citizens have begun collecting non-perishable food, hygiene products, and emergency supplies for families hit by the earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24.

Experts debated Honduras's urgent need to overhaul the electricity sector, warning that a failure to reach consensus by July will deepen blackouts, swell public debt, and scare off foreign investment, as lawmakers split over whether new utilities should stay state-owned or open to private investment.

Remittances to Honduras rose 13.2% to $5.29 billion in the first five months of 2026, the fastest growth among the three Northern Triangle countries, according to International Organization for Migration data.

Also reported by: Infobae – Honduras

The Central Bank of Honduras will take its online portal offline Saturday, July 18, and Sunday, July 19, for system upgrades, with normal service resuming Monday, July 20.

Honduras has signed a $65 million contract with German company Tönnjes to produce 2.9 million vehicle license plates through 2030, clearing a backlog of nearly one million vehicles still running on temporary paper permits.

Also reported by: TuNota (Canal 5 / TSI), Radio Cadena Voces (RCV), Presidencia de Honduras, Radio Cadena Voces (X)

Honduras had spent only 35% of its budget through mid-2026, according to watchdog ASJ, leaving gaps in medicines, school buildings, and other key services, though Finance Minister Emilio Hércules put the figure above 42%.

A northern-zone union leader put the number of unemployed Hondurans at more than 1.5 million, noting that older workers displaced by maquiladora closures face age discrimination and slim rehiring prospects despite government promises to create jobs.

ASJ economist Obed García warned that Honduras's public debt has grown to nearly the size of the entire national budget, leaving little fiscal room for salaries, public investment, and essential services if the government tried to pay it down.

ENEE has scheduled power outages for maintenance on July 17 in several zones nationwide; specific times and affected areas are listed on the utility's website.

Tegucigalpa's mayor says the Papa Francisco bridge at the exit toward Mateo village will not open until experts confirm it is safe, with an inspection set for this week.

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

The Agriculture Ministry will spend 140 million lempiras (about $5.6 million) to rehabilitate irrigation districts, improving water efficiency and boosting crop production across 12,000 hectares to help farmers cope with a changing climate.

The Infrastructure Ministry is clearing vegetation along the road between Cane and El Bache in the La Paz–Intibucá corridor to improve visibility, safety, and conditions for travelers on the key route.

Energy Minister Eduardo Oviedo says the state power utility needs at least $6 billion over the coming years to improve service and cut losses, and he expects Congress to pass the necessary reforms when lawmakers return.

A civil-society group is calling for the proceeds from the sale of the presidential aircraft—more than L137 million (about $5.5 million)—to be spent on medicines and hospital upgrades to ease shortages in the public health system.

The president of the Medical College says public hospitals are canceling operations for lack of sterile surgical supplies, sutures, and lab reagents—a crisis wider than the fentanyl shortage—while questioning the government's tally of emergency surgeries carried out in private centers.

Under a January agreement with the government, Fundesur Honduras has distributed $6 million in medicines across six departments, reaching more than 122,000 Hondurans at public health facilities.

A severe drought has driven Tegucigalpa's two main reservoirs to critical levels—Los Laureles at 39.88% of capacity and La Concepción at 35.19%—prompting tighter rationing for 1.6 million people and warnings that reserves could run dry by late August without significant rain.

Also reported by: Radio América, Radio América Honduras

Honduras's disaster agency is coordinating damage assessments and pre-positioning humanitarian aid for communities in the Moskitia region of Gracias a Dios hit by heavy rains, though deliveries are difficult because of the terrain and weather.

A lawyer was shot and killed inside his vehicle in Esparta, in the department of Atlántida.

Honduras's national human-rights ombudsman cited an average of 29 violent deaths of women a month over 24 years and warned that tougher penalties alone cannot stop gender violence without stronger investigations, prevention policies, and institutional safeguards for vulnerable women and girls.

Police arrested José Efraín Armijo after an 11-year-old boy was killed with a machete in Balfate, Colón, on Sunday; the suspect confessed and has a prior record of violence, authorities say.

Also reported by: Radio HRN, Policía Nacional de Honduras

Honduras's human-rights ombudsman reported rising child homicides, teen pregnancies, sexual abuse, gang recruitment, forced displacement, and child labor, blaming the crisis on state failures in protection and enforcement and calling for stronger institutions.

Luis Javier Santos, the former head of the anti-corruption unit, says the Superior Court of Accounts issued clearance documents that accused officials used to escape prosecution, calling it a politically controlled body that shielded the corrupt instead of holding them accountable.

Honduras's National Police will accept digital documents stored in the Bien electronic wallet—including the national ID, driver's license, and firearms permit—as valid identification at traffic stops and in police operations, with safeguards to stop officers from screenshotting or misusing personal data.

The US Department of Homeland Security has capped international student visa stays at four years and foreign journalist permits at 240 days, or eight months, with extensions possible if approved, affecting Honduran students and media professionals hoping to work or study in the United States.

Marta María Saire, sexually assaulted twice as a child while in state care, still lacks adequate support despite a 2003 IACHR friendly-settlement agreement requiring Honduras to provide her with comprehensive rehabilitation.

Vice President María Antonieta Mejía has called on lawmakers to hold a technical debate on proposed reforms to the state power company ENEE, which faces losses of about 16 billion lempiras—roughly $640 million—and is choking off public investment in education and infrastructure.

Honduras hosts the Central American Beekeeping Congress July 22–24 in Comayagua, drawing producers and specialists from seven countries to share techniques and technologies; the country's 3,800 organized beekeepers manage about 40,000 hives and produce more than 800,000 kg of honey a year.

Honduras's Energy Ministry announced new fuel prices effective July 20, with kerosene and diesel rising about L1.29 to L1.37 per gallon, vehicle LPG dipping slightly, and domestic LPG and regular gasoline frozen under temporary subsidies.

A UNAH researcher warns that 750,000 Hondurans face severe food insecurity in July and August, with another 1.4 million experiencing moderate insecurity, as drought and flooding threaten to deepen the crisis.

Coffee grower Fredy Pastrana warns that Honduras's coffee industry is losing production for lack of pickers—worsened by poor roads and missing basic services in growing areas—and calls for policies to make farm work more appealing.

Residents of Tatumbla in Francisco Morazán report power cuts of 20 to 48 hours, especially in the rainy season, driven by crumbling electrical infrastructure, and are pressing the state utility ENEE to install new transformers and repair aging lines and poles.

Honduras's College of Civil Engineers confirmed that the expanded polystyrene, or durapax, placed in the Papa Francisco overpass in Tegucigalpa is temporary material in the expansion joints—not part of the structure—and poses no safety risk, though the bridge stays closed pending full technical clearance.

Honduras is spending 1.4 billion lempiras—about $56 million—this year to reinforce dikes and levees across the Sula Valley, its largest such investment on record, using innovations like riprap and Concrete Canvas to protect San Manuel, La Lima, El Progreso, Puerto Cortés, and Choloma from flooding.

Honduran health authorities voiced concern that more pets than children are being vaccinated in the country, insisting that protecting the population, especially children, must come first.

Although the government distributed $6 million in medicines across six departments under an emergency decree, doctors and patients say shortages of staff, surgical supplies, and fentanilo—along with unrepaired operating rooms—still undermine public hospital care and lengthen surgical waiting lists nationwide.

San Pedro Sula has confirmed 243 dengue cases in 2026 with no deaths, though health officials say seven recent patients show warning signs and two cases have been classified as severe dengue.

Also reported by: Radio Cadena Voces (X)

Patients covered by Honduras's social security system are urging authorities to expand coverage and improve service quality, saying specialist appointments are all but impossible to get.

Torrential rains across Olancho and Gracias a Dios have cut off 80% of the communities in Patuca municipality, stranding 30,000 people amid damaged roads and flooded crops, with two young men missing and more than 60 families evacuated from Wampusirpi.

Honduran forward Erick Puerto, who started both legs, helped Belarus's BATE Borisov edge Albania's AF Elbasani on penalties in Conference League qualifying, setting up a match against Switzerland's Sion.

Honduras has sworn in its largest delegation ever—140 athletes and about 170 people in all—for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo from July 24 to August 8, competing in 27 sports.

Also reported by: Infobae – Honduras, Radio América Honduras

Broadcaster Carlos Bustillo del Valle was found dead and decomposed in his home in the La Cruz neighborhood of Catacamas, Olancho, after neighbors reported a foul odor; the cause of death remains unclear.

Police arrested José Antonio Matute Meza on July 16 in Jutiapa, Atlántida, on suspicion of drug trafficking; he is accused of belonging to the Los Olanchanos gang.

Marco Sorto and Arnaldo Mejía died at Hospital Santa Teresa de Comayagua after suffering severe injuries in a fall from the bed of a vehicle Thursday night.

Detectives in southern Honduras seized an unplated vehicle in Choluteca and arrested three people carrying about 3 kilos of cocaine in a joint operation with police and a task force.