Sunday, July 26, 2026

Five months after the Attorney General's office submitted a draft to modernize Honduras's public-contracting rules—with digital tools, certified suppliers, and tighter controls—Congress says it has yet to receive the formal government version it needs to begin its review.

The Association of Petroleum Product Distributors (Ahdippe) urged lawmakers to study the energy-system reform more carefully, citing concerns over technical losses, ENEE debt recovery, and accountability before the bill moves ahead.

Honduras's National Electoral Council has received a proposal from former electoral officials to amend several articles of the Electoral Law, and interim CNE president Aixa Gabriela Zelaya said the full council will review the changes as part of efforts to strengthen democratic processes.

Authorities in San Pedro Sula will begin enforcing a 600-lempira (about $24) fine against drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians at marked crosswalks, a Traffic Law violation officials say is routinely ignored.

Honduras's basic food basket rose from L14,500 to L16,000 between December 2025 and July 2026, according to Artículo 19, with meat, dairy, beans, and vegetables driving the increase and squeezing household budgets.

Also reported by: Infobae – Honduras

Honduras deposited its ratification of the ICSID convention on July 17, becoming the 159th state to join the World Bank's mechanism for settling foreign-investment disputes, effective August 16.

Also reported by: Once Noticias

The Trump administration said it will keep a 10% tariff on goods from Honduras and 59 other countries, citing insufficient efforts to prevent forced labor in their exports.

Also reported by: TuNota (Canal 5 / TSI)

Honduras has recorded 17 deaths from whooping cough so far in 2026, more than double the eight in all of 2025, with infants and young children hit hardest by the outbreak, health authorities say.

A medical brigade in Juticalpa, Olancho, treated roughly 6,200 patients in a single day.

Social Security patients are paying L3,000 to L6,000 a month (about $120 to $240) out of pocket for medications and supplies because of treatment delays, with chronic and cancer patients hardest hit by administrative backlogs and shortages.

A marathon in Tegucigalpa on July 26 from 5:30 to 8:00 a.m. will bring temporary traffic changes across several areas, though no full street closures, and authorities are urging drivers to expect delays and use caution.

Miguel "Hino" Mathews, a prolific striker who became a legend of Honduran soccer in the 1980s with Real España and Motagua and played for the national team, died of sudden cardiac arrest in San Pedro Sula on July 25.

INTERPOL Honduras arrested and deported an Ecuadorian citizen wanted by US authorities on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide after he was detained trying to enter the country illegally at the Las Manos border crossing.

Javier Rodolfo Chávez, 44, of Villanueva in Cortés, drowned in Lake Yojoa when a sudden storm whipped up waves that swamped the small fishing boat he and friends were in.

Police arrested a 68-year-old security guard and a 20-year-old mason in the machete killing of Eliezer Isaías Cruz in Roatán on July 24, and investigators say at least five other suspects remain at large.

Génesis María Ortiz Ramírez, 11, vanished from her home in San Pedro Sula's Nuevos Horizontes neighborhood early on July 25; her family says she did not leave willingly and is asking the public for help finding her.

Former president Juan Orlando Hernández, freed after a US pardon wiped out his 45-year drug-trafficking sentence, will return voluntarily to Honduras on Sunday to face domestic charges of fraud and money laundering, after a Honduran judge suspended the international arrest warrant against him.

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

Palmerola International Airport urged passengers to arrive early on July 26, warning of heavy traffic on the CA-05 highway as former president Juan Orlando Hernández returns to Honduras.

Also reported by: El Heraldo, Once Noticias

A Honduran research center presented a historical analysis of socioterritorial conflicts in Honduras from 2022 to 2026 at a Central American history conference in El Salvador, tracing trends and challenges.

The Central Bank of Honduras auctioned $83.5 million in its weekly foreign-exchange offering, setting the weighted average exchange rate at L26.7824 per dollar for July 25–27.

Juan Carlos Hernández, president of Honduras's economics association, says family remittances have strengthened households' ability to pay for food, education, and health, while easing demand for consumer credit.

An investigation reveals that officials in Tegucigalpa's city administration under Jorge Aldana pushed to open one lane of the Papa Francisco Bridge on November 21, 2025, despite known structural cracks and unfinished work; the bridge was closed again in January 2026 after those defects worsened.

Also reported by: Radio América Honduras

The Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry has opened bidding to expand the Helena Kulman Boulevard in El Progreso from the Obelisk to the Baprosa sector, with bids due August 3 and the project fully funded by national money.

University rectors from across Honduras signed a joint declaration pledging to strengthen environmental research, academic cooperation, and sustainable solutions to climate change and disaster risk management.

Honduras's emergency agency declared a 48-hour green alert for Gracias a Dios as heavy rain from a tropical wave and upper-level trough threatens flash flooding and river overflows in the east and north.

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

Luis Ángel Guifarro Escobar and Mauricio Benítez died when their fishing boat capsized on the Patuca III reservoir in Olancho on July 24, after sudden high winds and heavy rain hit while five young men were aboard.

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

With a prolonged drought draining reservoirs, Tegucigalpa Mayor Juan Diego Zelaya said water-rationing cycles will lengthen from every 7 days to every 9 days starting next week, to stretch supplies until the September rains arrive.

Referee Saíd Martínez, who recently officiated at the 2026 World Cup, has been chosen by Concacaf for the Leagues Cup (August 4–September 6), featuring Mexican clubs and MLS teams, along with fellow Honduran referees Selvin Brown and Jefferson Escobar.

Also reported by: HCH

Honduran athletes impressed on day two of the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, with Josué Matute finishing ninth in the 10-kilometer open-water race and Elián Ávila advancing to the track-and-field final.

Luis Castro, the President's private secretary, was hospitalized after a crash on the CA-5 highway on July 26; officials said no one in the vehicle was seriously injured.

US federal prosecutors charged 11 people with conspiracy and human trafficking resulting in death after seven migrants, including three Hondurans and a 14-year-old boy, died trapped in a sealed train container in extreme heat in Laredo, Texas.

Joceline Lizeth Martínez Martínez, 45, a San Pedro Sula native living in Tegucigalpa, was struck and killed by a vehicle while crossing Boulevard Fuerzas Armadas on July 24; she was the daughter of Judge Nelly Lizeth Martínez Martínez.

A 25-year-old Mexican man was arrested in San Pedro Sula, accused of using a cellphone to withdraw more than L190,000 (about $7,600) from ATMs through unauthorized digital transactions.