Saturday, August 15, 2026

Honduras's Appeals Court voided all criminal proceedings against former judge Marco Antonio Vallecillo on extortion charges, ruling that prosecutors skipped the mandatory antejuicio pretrial procedure required before charging a sitting judge.

The president of Honduras's Supreme Court said the judiciary remains committed to talks with Garífuna representatives and OFRANEH on carrying out international court rulings on Indigenous land rights, after both groups skipped a scheduled meeting Friday.

Former president Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted of drug trafficking in the US and later pardoned, said he will face the money-laundering accusations against him with respect for the justice system.

The Energy Ministry announced higher prices for premium gasoline, regular gasoline, diesel and kerosene effective August 17, with diesel rising the most, while household cooking gas holds steady and vehicular LPG dips slightly.

Also reported by: Radio HRN

Honduras's official cost-of-living index now tracks 405 items—housing, utilities, transportation, health care and digital services—capturing the true expenses families face beyond groceries.

State power utility ENEE ran up a L11.2 billion (about $450 million) deficit in the first seven months of 2026, with electricity theft and illegal connections behind roughly 75% of its losses, according to a civil-society analysis presented to energy regulators and Congress.

Also reported by: Radio Cadena Voces (RCV)

The national power company will cut electricity to neighborhoods across three departments on August 15 for transmission-line maintenance and private contractor work, with outages lasting seven to eight hours depending on the area.

Health officials confirmed the first case of pertussis, or whooping cough, in Lempira Department—a hospitalized 11-month-old from Erandique—as the outbreak has now killed 17 children nationwide, and they urged vaccination, especially for women in their final trimester of pregnancy.

Flor Cuevar, a young woman from Gracias, Lempira, died in a crash in the El Sile area, stunning family and friends as authorities investigate what happened.

Honduras recorded over 1,600 seismic events from 2023 through July 2026, most of them minor and concentrated in Cortés, Comayagua and the Gulf of Fonseca along tectonic plates and fault lines, though none caused reported damage.

Tegucigalpa's water authority has cut service to once every nine days as reservoirs near critical levels, and officials warn supplies could run dangerously low in the coming weeks without rain.

The Tegucigalpa mayor's office has teamed up with Honduran student Siena Callizo, who studies robotics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, to launch Sueño STEM, a program bringing robotics and digital-skills training to public-school children in the capital.

Seventy-five municipalities across Honduras are facing prolonged drought, with 50 receiving emergency food aid, and heavier rains are forecast to begin in early September, according to atmospheric satellite data.

Also reported by: Radio Cadena Voces (RCV)

Tela's city government unveiled plans for a 1.5-kilometer linear park along a defunct canal, a tourism pier for boats and yachts, and a bike path to upgrade public spaces and marine tourism, though the projects remain in the design phase pending permits and financing.

Honduran forward Dereck Moncada came off the bench in FC Lugano's 2-2 draw at NSI Runavik, enough for the Swiss club to advance 4-2 on aggregate to the UEFA Conference League playoffs against CSKA Sofia.

Motagua drew 1–1 at home with Costa Rica's Cartaginés in the Concacaf Central American Cup group stage, leaving the Honduran club needing a result in its final match at Guatemala's Municipal to reach the knockout round.

Also reported by: Radio América

Police arrested Jesús Daniel Tróchez (alias "El Diablo") and Carlos Eduardo Zaldívar (alias "El Texas") over the August 10 killing of Roberto Chavarría during an armed robbery at a supermarket in Olanchito, Yoro; Tróchez has prior arrests.

The National Police expanded its intervention strategy from 30 to 50 municipalities nationwide to keep criminal gangs from shifting operations to areas with a lighter police presence, according to the police communications director.

A coordinator at a Honduran civil-society group warned that the newly approved Agro-Industrial Law endangers the territorial rights of Garífuna, Indigenous, and other communities, pointing to the land-regularization rules in Article 77 and to breaches of Inter-American Court rulings.

Honduras's prosecutors' association is pressing the Public Ministry and Congress to approve emergency funding for about 200 new prosecutors, saying the current 760 are overwhelmed by a growing backlog after seven years without new hires.

A court delayed the initial hearing for former president Juan Orlando Hernández on fraud and money-laundering charges until August 18, after his lawyers asked for more time to review the prosecution's evidence.

Congresswoman Alejandra Burgos, who chairs Congress's Food Security Commission, said 2.2 million Hondurans face food insecurity because of drought, with 60,000 at critical risk and in need of urgent government help to head off severe malnutrition.

A decade after Honduras passed animal-protection legislation, more than 800 abuse complaints have produced just 10 convictions, leaving private rescuers and shelters to house and feed seized animals with no government funding.

Hospital San Felipe has carried out more than 3,600 surgeries and biopsies since April 2026—over 1,500 of them in ophthalmology—as part of a push to clear its surgical backlog and treat patients who had waited two to three years for operations.

Hospital Satuyé on Roatán lacks air-conditioning units, desks, and filing equipment, and some cooling systems have failed despite being less than a year old, the hospital administrator said.

A former IHSS hospital manager faulted the government's L10 million in payments to private hospitals for 145 surgeries, arguing that buying private care is no substitute for fixing a weak public system through better staffing, resources, and management.

Delsy Maribel Hernández Hernández, a Class I police officer assigned to El Negrito, Yoro, died Friday after her Toyota Corolla veered off Highway RN-23 near Vueltas de Chancaya.

Also reported by: HCH

The director of San Pedro Sula's landmark Instituto José Trinidad Reyes said the school may march in its Independence Day parade behind only the turquoise-blue flag, citing a 1949 decree, and objected to education ministry rules that would hold school officials liable if crowds spill onto the parade route.

Christopher Funes Whitefield of Roatán graduated Cum Laude as an FAA-certified aircraft mechanic in Charlotte, North Carolina, becoming the first native islander from Roatán to earn the credential.

Honduras's football federation confirmed the second-division Apertura tournament will go ahead with 36 teams after rejecting El Carbonal FC's admission and denying Olimpia Occidental's request to withdraw, with the season opening August 22.

Honduran forward Luis Palma started as Lech Poznań routed KÍ Klaksvík 5–0 away to reach the Europa League playoffs on a 6–0 aggregate, and will next face Swiss club FC Thun on August 20.

Thirty-seven Mexican nationals, most with more than a decade in the U.S., were deported by ICE and flown to San Pedro Sula rather than Mexico under the Trump administration's policy of routing deportees to third countries, leaving them to navigate extra migration procedures.

The US Department of Homeland Security said Temporary Protected Status for Hondurans and 12 other nations has ended, warning recipients to leave voluntarily or face deportation.

At least four people—a patient undergoing CPR, two relatives, and a paramedic—were hurt when an emergency ambulance collided with a minibus on Fifth Avenue in Comayagüela; witnesses said the ambulance had its lights and sirens on and the minibus was speeding.

Police arrested a man accused of aggravated femicide and robbery in the death and disappearance of Yorleni Melissa Argueta Alas in Puerto Cortés; he will stand trial.

A Catacamas woman reported to authorities that her ex-partner took their two children—a 9-month-old daughter and a 3-year-old son—without her consent and allegedly moved them to San Pedro Sula, and she is asking police to help locate and return them.