Tuesday, July 21, 2026

José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, who resigned as defense minister in 2024 after a video linked his father to meetings with drug traffickers, is now an advisor to a Libre city councilor in Tegucigalpa, the mayor confirmed.

The Central Bank of Honduras says the country's macroeconomic conditions remain sound despite a difficult international climate.

The head of Honduras's petroleum distributors association warns that fuel prices are likely to climb next week and is urging Hondurans to renew conservation measures, citing volatile international markets.

Honduras's central bank sold $90.8 million at its July 20 foreign-exchange auction, setting a weighted average exchange rate of L26.7638 per dollar for July 21.

An American Airlines Boeing 737-800 from Miami landed at San Pedro Sula's Ramón Villeda Morales Airport on July 20 with visible denting on its nose cone, and its return flight was canceled; unofficial sources have suggested a bird strike on approach, but neither the airline nor any Honduran authority has confirmed it.

Reconstruction of the Juan Manuel Gálvez Bridge ramp in Tegucigalpa is 30% complete, with crews now raising the central column and beams; officials expect to finish in about three months despite delays caused by unexpectedly hard soil and an underground pipe they hadn't anticipated.

Health authorities and major hospitals in northwestern Honduras have set up a joint protocol to handle any spread of measles, with the outbreak so far limited to six confirmed cases in San Pedro Sula and a containment cordon active in Cofradía since early July.

Honduras is keeping its avian influenza emergency in effect after confirming one case on a commercial poultry farm and more than 500 in wild birds, warning that lifting it could relax biosecurity measures and let the virus reach commercial operations.

Congressman Carlos Umaña warned that dengue cases keep rising in Honduras, with conditions ripe for severe illness and possible deaths, especially among children and adolescents, as the more virulent type 3 strain circulates.

Agribusiness leader Gustavo Flores warned that climate change could disrupt Honduras's farm output and threaten the country's food security and access to basic grains.

Residents of earthquake-hit areas are moving back into damaged homes despite lingering structural concerns and a persistent fear of aftershocks.

Cenaos forecasters say the canícula — a midsummer lull within the rainy season — together with moderate El Niño conditions will reduce, but not end, rainfall across Honduras from about July 15 to August 15, with high temperatures and only scattered light showers expected.

Honduras saw a 9.8% rise in overnight tourists and a 19.6% jump in cruise passengers, with cruise traffic emerging as a major driver of tourism growth.

Olimpia and Motagua will play for the first official Honduras Supercup title on July 23 at the National Stadium, with international referee Saíd Martínez officiating.

Also reported by: Diez

Martín Jiménez, a Panamanian footballer who played for Club Deportivo y Social Vida in Honduras's second division in 2025, has died; the cause has not been disclosed.

Wualys Fuentes Aquino, first runner-up in the 2026 Miss Universe Tegucigalpa pageant, was found dead in her Tegucigalpa apartment after relatives reported her missing; authorities have not disclosed the cause of death pending an autopsy.

National Police arrested a man in Comayagua on suspicion of the aggravated sexual assault of a minor.

A man said to be a police officer shot and killed Sohenia Johana Baca, who cared for his daughter, during a dispute over court-ordered child support in the Palo Real hamlet of Sabanagrande; a child at the scene was also wounded.

Also reported by: La Prensa, HCH, TuNota (Canal 5 / TSI), Radio Cadena Voces (X)

Ronald Panchamé, who leads the Libre bloc in Congress, said the party will put forward a counterproposal to the government's electricity-sector reform bill now under debate.

A diplomat and analyst says President Nasry Asfura must repair Honduras's relationship with the United States and find common trade ground to negotiate relief from a 10% tariff Washington is placing on Central American exports.

A prominent defense lawyer argues that Honduras's justice system treats environmental and land-rights activists as high-risk criminals while going easy on powerful figures, pointing to the Guapinol case and five Garifuna defendants arrested in San Juan.

Kilvett Bertrand, who chairs Congress's Defense and Sovereignty Commission, said Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's recent remarks affirm Honduras's sovereignty over Isla Conejo and should settle any dispute over the territory.

Honduras's net international reserves have grown by $1.25 billion since January 27, the Central Bank reported as of July 17, with import coverage holding steady at 6.7 months.

Honduras's Property Institute is collecting annual vehicle registration fees on a staggered schedule through December, with an amnesty letting owners clear unpaid fees from 2025 and earlier without penalties, and projects revenue of L5.4 billion (about $216 million).

Honduran onion producers say they may suspend planting next season unless the government enforces a 2023 agricultural decree that curbs imports when local supplies are sufficient, warning of possible national shortages and market disruption.

The research group Sendas called for energy-sector reform built on political independence, lower technical losses, financial recovery, more market competition, and accountable leadership to tackle ENEE's structural crisis, which cost the utility about $530 million in uncollected revenue in 2025.

The Central Bank of Honduras is revising and relaxing the deadlines for exporters to bring foreign-currency earnings back home, aiming to make life simpler for the export sector.

Honduras's tax authority, the SAR, has switched on mandatory electronic generation of the FYDUCA payment voucher, a customs fiscal document users must now create and download through the agency's online system.

More than 200,000 people owe the National Road and Transport Authority over 700 million lempiras (about $28 million) in unpaid traffic fines, according to its director, Lenin Morell.

Unsafe building on unstable ground along Tegucigalpa's Anillo Periférico (Ring Road) has created a growing risk of collapse, laid bare by a June 2026 hillside failure that killed three workers and exposed widespread breaches of city building codes and slope-stability standards.

Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport on Roatan is undergoing a major expansion budgeted at L800 million (about $30 million) to handle rising passenger traffic, with officials aiming to make it a modern hub for tourism and regional travel by 2030.

Roatán Marine Park is taking underwater and ecosystem photography entries through September 17 to showcase the Bay Islands' marine biodiversity and promote ocean conservation, with winning images featured in the 2027 calendar.

Geographer Carlos Héctor Sabillón warned that decades of poor planning have left Honduras facing water shortages and urged the government to adopt a long-term national strategy to capture rainfall, reforest watersheds, and build storage.

The Honduran Navy's Guanaja base, working with Zeus Academy and community partners, planted more than 200 seedlings at La Rambla Los Fuertes in Roatán to restore one hectare and protect the island's green spaces and tourism appeal.

Heavy rains have inundated communities in Gracias a Dios on Honduras's northern coast, prompting the Navy to move 146 people from Baicán and Rats Disguan to a shelter, with more rain expected to raise the risk.

Also reported by: HCH

Deputy Sports Minister Armando Vinicio Valdés said CONDEPOR is prioritizing the completion of 44 stalled sports projects nationwide while also studying plans for a new Olympic Village and decentralized training centers for elite athletes.

Four Hondurans drowned in Ohio's Scioto River while trying to rescue a Salvadoran man in distress; Honduras's Foreign Ministry has begun repatriating the bodies, and surviving children are in U.S. protective custody pending their return to Honduras.

Police arrested a 39-year-old man in Tegucigalpa on charges of defrauding car owners who consigned vehicles for sale, allegedly transferring titles to third parties without authorization and forging documents in at least 16 complaints.

Also reported by: Policía Nacional de Honduras

A judge postponed to July 28 the initial hearing against former INAMI director Ninfa Flores and three co-defendants accused of fraud and abuse of authority, at the defense's request pending submission of evidence.

Milton Omar Rápalo, who owned a car wash, was shot and killed in a shopping center parking lot in San Pedro Sula on Monday afternoon, and authorities are reviewing security footage and gathering evidence.

Also reported by: TuNota (Canal 5 / TSI), HCH, Radio América Honduras

Olvin Javier Velásquez Maldonado, 40, was sentenced to more than four years in prison for conspiring to move 24 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a boat traveling from Utila to Louisiana in 2022, with his fingerprints on the drug packaging providing key evidence.

National Police arrested two suspects in Yoro who tried to move a truckload of alcoholic beverages into the department without proper documentation.

Also reported by: Radio América Honduras