Thursday, August 6, 2026

Honduras's Supreme Court of Accounts found that judges nationwide ordered L921 million (about $37 million) seized from the state treasury without following required procedures, and referred its findings to prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

A Honduran court ruled that former president Juan Orlando Hernández, who returned to Honduras in July after a U.S. pardon, will remain free but barred from leaving the country while he faces money-laundering and fraud charges, with an initial hearing set for August 12.

Also reported by: Criterio.hn

The private-sector council COHEP warns that rising fuel, energy, and input costs are accelerating company closures, with about 80% of microenterprises failing within five years and leadership handoffs adding further risk.

When a possum hit the power lines in Catacamas, Olancho, the outage shut down oxygen pumps and killed about 5,500 pounds of tilapia in two ponds, costing entrepreneur Johnny Flores more than L300,000 (about $12,000).

The president of the Cortés Chamber of Commerce cited a sharp trade deficit with China—Honduras imports about $210 million in Chinese goods each month while exporting far less—and called for a level playing field and enforcement of tax and labor laws for all foreign investors.

The national electricity utility ENEE announced scheduled power cuts on August 6 across Francisco Morazán, San Pedro Sula, Olancho, and Valle for routine circuit maintenance, with outages lasting four to six hours in the affected neighborhoods.

To address falling reservoir levels, the Tegucigalpa city government is drilling and rehabilitating wells, evaluating 41 existing wells and 33 new sites with the goal of creating more than 70 water sources, each capable of producing 80–120 gallons per minute and serving roughly 1,000 families a day.

Roatán's new public hospital is running about 10% behind schedule but still on track for completion in early July 2027, after which services will move from the current facility over three to four months to keep care uninterrupted.

Authorities found bags of medical waste—including contaminated needles and bioinfectious material—improperly mixed with regular garbage at the municipal crematorium in Tegucigalpa, exposing workers and waste collectors to disease; the city says the clinics and facilities that break protocol are responsible.

Honduras's health ministry is tracking a nationwide rise in diarrheal and stomach infections among children and adults, with tests still under way to identify the cause, and is urging hand hygiene and food safety precautions.

A badly decomposed dolphin washed ashore at Cristales beach in Trujillo, Colón; residents alerted authorities, who removed the animal for expert examination to determine how it died.

Unitec is holding its Third International Congress on Artificial Intelligence in San Pedro Sula in a hybrid format, drawing regional and international experts to discuss AI in business strategy, automation, energy optimization, and digital transformation.

Singer Ricardo Montaner will perform his biggest hits from across several decades at the UNAH Polideportivo in Tegucigalpa on October 5.

Four people were shot and killed in the colonia 15 de Septiembre neighborhood of Olanchito on Tuesday night when four gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire without warning; three of the victims belonged to the same family.

The Honduran military arrested Henry Zalaya Umanzor, 45, a Salvadoran citizen suspected of entering the country illegally and of ties to a criminal gang, at the El Amatillo crossing in Valle; authorities say he has a record in El Salvador for document forgery and aggravated robbery.

Security Minister Gerzon Velásquez confirmed that authorities are hunting Esteban Gumercindo Ferrera Rodas, alias "El Diablo," the alleged leader of the Diablo cartel, saying seized videos of the group's killings document extreme brutality and that recent operations have turned up hideouts in rural mountain areas.

Also reported by: HCH

Honduras's National Anti-Corruption Council filed charges against former Fosovi directors Juan Ramón Cruz Carvajal and Gilberto Ríos Munguía, alleging they funneled public money into personal accounts, let the agency collapse administratively from 2020 to 2026, and left millions of lempiras in unpaid debts to pension and health-insurance institutes.

Also reported by: La Prensa

Lawmakers are closing in on a deal to overhaul Honduras's General Law of the Electrical Industry, as the Liberal Party and the legislative committee narrow their differences over how to attract private investment while keeping state assets under the control of the state-owned utility ENEE.

Also reported by: El Heraldo

Congressional leaders and the Joint General Staff met to discuss proposed reforms to the Armed Forces constitutional law and to review the Military Police's operational capacity, with the goal of strengthening security nationwide.

Honduras's ambassador to the OAS deflected questions from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about judicial independence and political trials, saying the government would respond through diplomatic channels rather than answer directly at the hearing.

Former president Juan Orlando Hernández, recently pardoned by the U.S., will defend himself without pretrial detention in a Honduran fraud and money-laundering case built on the diversion of more than 62 million lempiras (roughly $2.5 million) in public funds to political campaigns.

Also reported by: Radio América Honduras

An ASJ report found that 46 operating rooms — 30% of the public hospital network's 154 — are out of service due to repairs, maintenance, or equipment shortages, deepening a surgical backlog that has grown to nearly 11,000 patients awaiting procedures.

Communities in Choluteca and Valle say a decade of foreign-financed solar projects has destroyed forests, contaminated water sources, and displaced fishing and farming while yielding just six permanent jobs, even as Congress debates an electrical-industry law expected to favor private energy companies further.

Roatán Mayor Ronnie McNab denied rumors that the historic Juan Brooks School in Coxen Hole would be demolished or relocated, saying it will be restored with its architectural and historical value intact as part of a broader revitalization of the town center.

Dominican singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra will perform his composition "Canto a la Patria" on August 8 at the closing ceremony of the 25th Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, in tribute to the host nation.

Marathón has signed 21-year-old right back and winger Samuel Card to a three-year contract, the club's eighth signing for the Apertura tournament and the Central American Cup.

Five construction workers buried in a collapse at a West Bay work site in Roatán were all pulled out alive on August 5 with injuries ranging from shoulder and leg fractures to lacerations; one was taken to Hospital Satuyé for treatment.

Data from Honduras's prison authority show 171 foreign inmates from at least 18 nationalities, 73 of them — 43% — charged with or convicted of drug trafficking, a reflection of the country's role as a transit route for narcotics headed to North America.

Newly surfaced security-camera footage shows Jorge Luis Castellanos Sosa being shot as he took cover behind desks when two armed attackers stormed a Danlí bank branch and opened fire; the gunmen fled after the failed robbery, and Castellanos died hours later at a local hospital.

A court in Tegucigalpa has sat for 18 months on two appeals challenging the pretrial detention of four men accused in the July 2020 disappearance of five Garífuna community leaders from Triunfo de la Cruz, prompting prosecutors to file a motion to force a ruling.