Thursday, July 23, 2026 — Evening Edition

A congressman from the Libre party has proposed a law granting workplace rights and safety protections to women in paid sex work, filling what he calls a regulatory gap that has left them exposed to discrimination and violence.

Presidential trade commissioner Melvin Redondo said Honduras will not pursue free-trade negotiations with China.

Congress approved a motion giving the Interior Ministry 10 days to rule on recognition of Anacafeh's board, seeking to end a three-year leadership dispute that has paralyzed the national coffee-growers' association since rival factions emerged in 2023.

The civil-society group ASJ is demanding a public report on Honduras's National Program for Reduction of Electrical Losses, questioning the transparency of its purchases and inventory management through its scheduled end in January 2026.

A government lawyer filed a constitutional challenge to criminal-code reforms that toughen penalties for femicide, arguing they create gender inequality and could cost the accused their jobs and land them on a weapons registry.

The Central Bank of Honduras auctioned $96.5 million in its daily currency sale on July 22, setting the weighted average exchange rate at L26.7722 per dollar for July 23.

The United States will impose tariffs of at least 2.5% on about 60 countries, including Honduras, citing forced labor and child labor in supply chains, a move that threatens Honduran exports of coffee, melons, and lobster, which already face duties ranging from 10% to 25%.

Honduras's banking sector continues to strengthen as private deposits climb, buoyed by economic activity and strong family remittances, the central bank reports.

Coffee businessman Basilio Fuschich said a proposed additional 2.5% US tariff on goods from countries with forced labor would, on top of existing tariffs, hurt Honduran exports and hand competitors an unfair edge unless applied uniformly across the region.

The expansion of Tegucigalpa's Germania Bridge is 70% complete and on track to open by early October, with partial overnight closures planned to finish slab installation on the reversible-lane project.

Capital authorities are weighing an extension of water rationing in Tegucigalpa to nine days as the city grapples with persistent supply shortages.

Also reported by: Radio América Honduras

Tegucigalpa's health authority reported ten hospitalized dengue cases, three of them critical, among 1,320 confirmed cases in the capital this year, and warned that self-medication can worsen symptoms and delay proper diagnosis.

An integrated food-security analysis projects that 157,000 people across Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala in the Rio Lempa border region will face acute hunger from July through October 2026, driven by seasonal grain depletion, inflation, and El Niño drought risk.

UNAH Rector Odir Fernández said the university has heard nothing official from the government about proceeds from the presidential aircraft sale that a law earmarks for regional campus expansion, and that the government owes the institution 1.44 billion lempiras in first-semester budget allocations.

Honduras's education ministry has issued strict new rules for the 2026 patriotic parades—banning reggaeton, commercial branding, and immodest performances—and threatened teachers and principals with fines, suspensions, or dismissal for violations.

Tropical Storm Bertha, packing sustained winds of 80 km/h, was tracking toward the Louisiana coast from a point 147 km east of New Orleans and poses no direct threat to Honduras, though authorities continue to monitor the Atlantic hurricane season.

Marina Suyapa Regalado, a Honduran from Lepaera, Lempira, who was nearing the end of cancer treatment, drowned in Ohio on July 19 along with three other Hondurans; her parents are pleading for help to bring her body home for burial.

A federal judge in Boston on July 21 suspended new restrictions on work authorization for asylum seekers and some TPS beneficiaries, though the cancellation of TPS for Honduras remains in effect.

Olvin Reynaldo Arriaga Baca, alias "Porking," was released on conditional liberty in April 2014 after being deemed a model prisoner, but six days later killed two children who refused to work as gang lookouts; in 2025, he was convicted alongside other Pandilla 18 members in the prison deaths of three gang leaders.

A four-vehicle collision near Cofradía, Cortés, left three people injured and hospitalized; the driver of one vehicle fled the scene.

An elderly woman in Choluteca's Manuel Valladares neighborhood filed a complaint after her 22-year-old grandson attacked her with kitchen utensils and her daughter threatened to kill her at the police station; both were arrested, and police said protective measures will stay in place.

Police arrested a suspect in Intibucá in connection with a woman's death; the man was wanted on an arrest warrant issued the previous year.