Sunday, August 30, 2026

The United States has temporarily suspended interviews for immigrant visas granting permanent residence while consular staff train on how to evaluate applicants, delaying appointments for thousands of Hondurans seeking family reunification or work-based immigration.

The National Congress is set to vote on an energy-reform bill next week after reaching broad consensus among parties, and is preparing to take up the 2027 budget with a focus on food security and drought relief.

Egg prices in Honduras have jumped another 14 lempiras, reaching as much as 130 lempiras (about $5.20) a carton in Tegucigalpa markets, squeezing household budgets as a key source of protein grows less affordable.

Also reported by: Radio HRN

Economist Henry Rodríguez projects the lempira will weaken to 27.20–27.25 per dollar by year-end and urges Honduras to boost domestic production and tighten monetary policy to curb a devaluation that is pushing up consumer prices.

The Honduran coffee company bought a premium Parainema lot from Santa Bárbara producer Richard Fernández at the 2026 Cup of Excellence auction, extending three years of support for award-winning local growers.

The national power utility has scheduled an 8-hour outage on August 30 across San Pedro Sula neighborhoods and industrial zones for maintenance on two circuits at the Calpules substation.

Choluteca's airport runway is being used for unauthorized car racing as it falls into disrepair, with photos showing piled-up trash, overgrown vegetation, and no maintenance, raising questions about oversight by aviation authorities.

With Tegucigalpa facing acute water shortages, the municipal water authority UMAPS is running three authorized fill stations for private cisterns at L75–L125 per load (about $3–$5), Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Tegucigalpa's city government estimates it will spend L24–53 million (about $960,000–$2.1 million) to rehabilitate 41 abandoned or disabled wells as part of efforts to ease a severe water shortage gripping the capital.

The Los Laureles reservoir sits at just 32.6% capacity and could run dry by early October without September rain, while La Concepción holds enough only through mid-to-late December, with rationing already in effect every nine days.

The Pan American Health Organization completed water, sanitation, and waste-management improvements at five health facilities in drought-hit municipalities in El Paraíso and Francisco Morazán to keep the clinics running through dry spells.

Montaña de Luz, a center in Morocelí that has cared for HIV-positive children and families since 2001, provides medical care, education, meals, and family counseling, but struggles to sustain its programs without government funding.

Honduras formally joined the Pan American Health Organization-led Primary Care Alliance for the Americas, which aims to strengthen primary health services through coordinated investment, innovation, and technical cooperation under a new national advisory board.

The Honduran Football Federation has hired Dani Cancela, a scouting specialist from Spain's football federation, to sharpen talent identification and development for the national youth teams and build ties with clubs worldwide.

Honduran winger Luis Palma's Lech Poznań drew Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Sunderland, and Crystal Palace among eight opponents in the UEFA Europa League league phase starting September 16.

Former prosecutor Nilia Ramos faulted Honduras's courts for acquitting Alexander Ardón — who confessed in a U.S. court to drug trafficking and a role in 56 murders — on money-laundering charges on August 24, and called for an audit of the judiciary to determine what went wrong.

Honduras's Anti-Extortion and Terrorist Associations Division (DAET) has arrested 224 suspects in two months, concentrating operations in five high-crime areas—Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Atlántida, Choluteca, and Comayagua—with a scaled force of about 400 agents backed by intelligence and investigation units.

A 19-year-old woman was arrested after police say she tried to rob 75-year-old tailor Juan Moreno Murillo at his home in Teupasenti, El Paraíso, then fatally stabbed him with his own scissors during a struggle.

The US dollar reached L27.00 per dollar, extending lempira weakness that economists warn will raise prices for imported goods, fuel, and agricultural inputs across Honduras's economy.

Also reported by: Radio Cadena Voces (RCV), Once Noticias

A CEPAL report ranks Honduras 125th globally on frontier-technology readiness, with its weakest scores in workforce skills (145th) and industrial capacity (133rd), though it ranks a surprising 38th in financing.

Prices for basic produce at Roatán's El Lempirita market jumped sharply this week—tomatoes up to 15 lempiras per pound, onions to 40 lempiras—as vendors report plummeting sales because consumers are cutting back amid higher costs for water, farm inputs, and fuel.

Construction on the El Carmen interchange—a tunnel-and-relief-channel project designed to ease traffic congestion in San Pedro Sula—has stalled because municipal and infrastructure officials have not cleared the right-of-way or relocated about 130 families living in the project zone.

A mental health law proposal was presented to Congress, aimed at strengthening psychiatric services and guaranteeing care for an estimated 1.5 to 1.6 million Hondurans with mental disorders, with officials citing depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia as the most common conditions treated.

Hepatitis cases have risen 100% in Cortés department, with Choloma and Villanueva reporting the highest infection rates; health authorities are monitoring food and water contamination as a possible contributing factor.

The Tegucigalpa municipal government and Fundación Amigos del Hospital María signed an agreement to improve facilities at Hospital María, Especialidades Pediátricas, focusing on parking areas and accessibility for patients, families, and staff.

National Police officer Manuel López Rodríguez drowned on August 28 while spending his day off at the La Máscara natural swimming hole in Santa Elena, La Paz, after diving from a rock a third time and failing to resurface.

Also reported by: Radio HRN

Jeannette Kawas, the Tela activist murdered in 1995 for opposing illegal development of the Punta Sal peninsula, is remembered through the national park bearing her name—though no one has been arrested for her killing despite a 2009 Inter-American Court ruling against Honduras for negligence.

A severe drought in Caridad, Valle, has wiped out up to 100% of some harvests and depleted water supplies, affecting about 800 farmers, with the mayor warning that reduced local production could drive up food prices as dependence on outside sources grows.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Honduras announced a national day of prayer and spiritual renewal on September 4–5 at the National Stadium, citing rising violence and the recent killing of a pastor as reasons for religious leaders and all citizens to unite in addressing the country's security crisis.

Kervin Arriaga's AEK Atenas will compete in the 2026–27 Champions League league phase against elite European clubs including Manchester City and Real Madrid, beginning September 8 against LASK.

Honduran forward Dereck Moncada will compete in the UEFA Europa Conference League as Lugano drew six opponents—Getafe (Spain), Copenhagen (Denmark), Jablonec (Czech Republic), Red Star Belgrade (Serbia), Žalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania), and Sint-Truiden (Belgium)—with three away matches scheduled.

Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, a legal permanent resident living in Los Angeles since 2002, was arrested on August 28 for fraudulently registering to vote in California's November 2026 midterm elections despite lacking U.S. citizenship, and faces felony charges.

Officers from the anti-extortion unit arrested Carlos Daniel Bonilla Martínez, 26, the suspected leader of Los Cabezones, and a 16-year-old during a raid in San Pedro Sula; the gang is accused of extorting roughly 1 million lempiras monthly from merchants and residents in Yoro.

Police arrested a 76-year-old man in Tegucigalpa on suspicion of attacking his wife, 70, and daughter, 51, with a machete in their home while allegedly intoxicated; both women were injured and received medical care.

A 37-year-old man from Danlí was extradited from the Dominican Republic to face charges of aggravated drug trafficking and criminal association; authorities say he coordinated a drug shipment from Colón to Danlí in November 2020 as part of an organized-crime structure.