Thursday, August 13, 2026

An appeals court threw out the charges and permanently dismissed the case against former Nationalist Party congresswoman Gladis Aurora López, who was accused of misappropriating public funds from an electrification project in La Paz.

Also reported by: La Prensa, HCH

A Liberal Party congresswoman has introduced an electoral-reform bill that would hold presidential elections separately from congressional and municipal ones.

Congress will convene a food security summit on August 18 to confront a severe drought hitting 75 municipalities and to craft long-term legal and financial solutions to the crisis.

Honduras paid more than 73 million lempiras ($2.87 million) to repair and upgrade one of its aging Embraer Tucano fighter jets, part of an effort to sustain a combat fleet worn down by tight budgets and opaque contracting.

A 30-egg carton now sells for L110 to L117 (about $4.40 to $4.68) in San Pedro Sula markets, up from L95 at the start of the year—the third increase in 2026 and a fresh strain on household food budgets.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup generated an estimated L400 million (roughly $16 million) in economic activity in Honduras, driven by spending on tickets, apparel, restaurants, bars, and air travel to match venues.

The agricultural marketing institute says Honduras holds 120,000 quintals (about 5,400 metric tons) of beans and 76,000 quintals (about 3,400 metric tons) of corn in strategic reserves, with new harvests due in 20 days and a 25% discount on basic grains coming to state-run stores.

The Health Ministry is requiring sanitary licenses for used-clothing retailers, barbershops, and beauty salons nationwide after complaints of allergic reactions, giving business owners just three days to comply.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an epidemic alert as measles cases across the Americas reached 47,459 in the first 28 weeks of 2026—more than eight times the 5,123 recorded in the same period of 2025—with Honduras confirming 13 cases, mostly in Cortés and the Bay Islands.

Honduras has recorded 7,151 dengue cases through epidemiological week 31, along with three women dead from the disease—two in Choluteca and one in Olancho.

The documentary "He Calls Me His Daughter" reaches Honduran theaters on August 15 with women's testimonies about strength, identity, and transformation, accompanied by forums and discussions nationwide.

Congress has approved 54 contracts to build and upgrade synthetic soccer fields across Honduras, including projects in Tegucigalpa neighborhoods and towns in Comayagua, Colón, Santa Bárbara, and Choluteca.

Also reported by: Congreso Nacional

Motagua leads Group D with six points in the Copa Centroamericana and can lock up a quarterfinal berth by beating Costa Rica's Cartaginés on Wednesday; Marathón faces Antigua on Thursday hoping to advance, while Olimpia rests.

Authorities have lost track of 13 Chinese nationals who entered Honduras between 2022 and 2025, raising concern about immigration oversight and the migrants' whereabouts.

Security analyst José Ponce Alvarado blames 11 massacres and 59 deaths in Yoro, Atlántida, and Colón in 2026 on longstanding drug-trafficking routes, gang activity, and weak police control in departments where criminal networks operate with relative impunity.

A judge ordered pretrial detention for Iliana Vanessa Ilovares, a nurse accused of shooting her husband, Onix Kimberly Barahona, during a confrontation at a Tegucigalpa car wash in September 2025; a preliminary hearing is set for September 1.

An attorney on Thursday asked Honduras's Constitutional Court to enforce Article 374 of the constitution, which bars any change to the term-limit rule in Article 239 that prohibits anyone who has served as president from running again.

Jorge Cálix, the Liberal Party's congressional leader, introduced a bill and a criminal-code reform to impose prison terms on those who steal power from the state utility ENEE.

Tegucigalpa's city government and national police cleared street vendors and informal merchants from the sidewalks of Third Avenue in Comayagüela, aiming to restore pedestrian access and keep buses in the right lane.

Journalist Héctor Ordóñez has replaced José Argueta as the government's communications secretary, after Argueta was quietly suspended some six months into the job amid questions about the administration's messaging strategy.

A member of Congress takes home roughly L140,000 (about $5,600) a month in salary and mobility allowances—more than nine times Honduras's average 2026 minimum wage—plus extra pay for leadership posts.

The initial hearing in the fraud and money-laundering case against former president Juan Orlando Hernández was set to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, judiciary spokesman Carlos Silva said.

An internal investigation is examining whether a former secretary general of the judiciary improperly influenced which appeals courts were assigned high-impact cases, including one against former congressman Nelson Márquez, now a deputy minister.

The European Union will provide 8 million euros (about $9.2 million) to support Honduras's electricity reforms and draw further energy investment, while widening civil-society participation in its cooperation projects.

José Castañeda, president of Honduras's small and medium enterprise federation, says weak domestic production and outdated economic policies—not Chinese immigrants—are the real barriers to Honduran competitiveness, as Congress investigates the entry of roughly 13,000 Asian citizens since 2022.

Honduras's Hospital Escuela will open six new operating rooms starting in October, raising daily surgeries from about 60 to between 100 and 150 as part of a wider effort to strengthen the public health system.

Tegucigalpa's city government is offering free veterinary care for cats over five years old from August 18 to 20, with 30 slots available and a focus on early detection of kidney disease.

Copeco's early-warning chief says the south and west are Honduras's most seismically vulnerable regions and warns that a major earthquake is "very likely" given the country's position on two tectonic plates.

A lightning strike killed one person and injured another in La Ceiba's Alvarado neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon as they sheltered under wooden structures during a heavy storm; the injured person was taken to Hospital General Atlántida.

Sports analyst Jacobo Hernández Romero warned that Honduras's National Stadium needs constant preventive maintenance to avoid the decay that has plagued the Metropolitan Olympic Stadium in San Pedro Sula, citing lessons from the 2026 World Cup's economic impact.

Congress passed reforms to streamline repatriation by setting up a single coordinating office where Hondurans can handle customs, immigration, and vehicle-registration procedures at once instead of visiting several agencies.

Police said they found no bodies or evidence to back reports of three killings in El Cinco, Bonito Oriental, Colón, on August 10, and received no emergency calls about the incident.

Daniel Meraz was sentenced to 18 years and 9 months in prison after admitting to the aggravated femicide of his ex-partner, nurse Elvia Mercedes Gómez López, 30, who died on June 3 in San Manuel, Cortés.

The animal-rights group PETA asked Honduras's attorney general to fully investigate an August 1 incident in Choloma in which a man dragged a dog behind a truck, citing research linking animal cruelty to other forms of violence.