Honduras Daily by Location

Congress on June 4 passed a law declaring agribusiness lands exempt from expropriation and land-reform programs, and ordering police to act immediately against occupations or protests, while peasant groups say it criminalizes rural organizing in the conflict-torn Bajo Aguán region where 20 people were killed on May 21.

A congresswoman from Colón has introduced legislation to create a regional office of the State Secretariat for Human Rights in the department, aiming to provide closer access to human-rights services and strengthen protections for the local population.

Police arrested a woman in Trujillo on a court warrant for murder, illegal weapons possession, and unlawful detention.

A judge ordered pretrial detention for Carlos Molina and Williams Reyes, who are accused as co-perpetrators in a mass killing that left 19 people dead in the Colón village of Rigores.

The state utility ENEE announced scheduled power cuts Monday, June 8, in Puerto Cortés and surrounding areas for maintenance on distribution lines, affecting hotels, the port authority, and residential neighborhoods from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

A Honduran court ordered Williams Izaguirre, arrested Friday in connection with the May 21 killing of 20 workers at an African palm plantation in Colón, held in pretrial detention alongside alleged mastermind Carlos Mencías, alias 'El Gato Negro,' in a case linked to fruit theft and a decades-old land dispute.

Police discovered the decomposed body of an unidentified man in Bonito Oriental, Colón, and began investigation while forensic authorities prepared to collect the remains.

Police arrested Williams Noé Reyes Izaguirre in Colón as a second suspect in the May 21 massacre of 20 people at an African palm plantation in Rigores, Trujillo; Alexis Molina Mencía, arrested earlier, is believed to have ordered the killings.

Carlos Alexis Mencía, known as 'El Gato Negro,' was arrested Tuesday in La Ceiba as the main suspect in the May 21 massacre at an African palm plantation in Rigores, Colón.

The state electricity company ENEE announced planned power cuts on June 4 in multiple regions including Tegucigalpa, Nacaome, Peña Blanca, La Lima, and Colón for scheduled maintenance, tree trimming, and equipment upgrades.

Authorities arrested Carlos Alexis Molina Mencía, alias "Gato Negro," near La Ceiba in connection with the May 21 massacre in Rigores, Colón, and believe six to seven people were involved in the killing of 20 victims.

Agrarian organizations including the Aguán Agrarian Platform and OFRANEH said a proposed law to strengthen and protect the agro-industrial sector is unconstitutional because it privileges one sector over the rest of the population.

Five National Police officers were killed in a violent ambush at a house in Corinto belonging to a leader of a criminal organization linked to the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel; investigators say about 150 gang members participated in the attack.

Honduran armed forces have destroyed more than 515,000 coca bushes across at least 25 illegal plantations and nine drug-processing sites in six departments so far this year, including a newly secured crop of 16,500 plants in Colón.

Anti-narcotics police and the Honduran Armed Forces dismantled a coca plantation of roughly 11,000 plants in the mountainous Santa Bárbara area of Iriona municipality, Colón department.

The state power utility ENEE will cut electricity Friday, June 5, in multiple regions including the capital, San Pedro Sula, and the Atlantic coast for scheduled grid maintenance.

Authorities are investigating whether the May 21 massacre of 20 people in Rigores, Trujillo, was retaliation for the February killing of Ruth Nohemy Monroy, 17, the wife of recently arrested gang leader Alexis Molina Mencía.

Armed forces discovered a coca plantation and a makeshift drug-processing lab in the Río Tinto mountain range of Colón department, bringing the year-to-date total to over 500,000 coca plants and nine processing sites seized across six departments.