Honduras: News & Updates

According to a report published by The New York Times , by 2024 Honduras Próspera Inc., the main company behind the charter city located in Roatán and based in the United States, had raised around $120 million in investments, including contributions from venture capital funds backed by Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation.

Recently, Jorge Constantino Colindres, technical secretary of Próspera, recalled that the project was the first ZEDE established in Honduras and stated that “its vision is to build in Honduras the best place in the world to do business, live, and work, with legal stability, physical security, and individual freedom. It does not receive funds from the central government, does not issue passports, has no army, and transfers 12% of its tax revenue to the national government and municipalities. What Próspera does have is what Honduras has needed for decades: a world-class regulatory environment .”

These statements contrast with the massive demonstrations in which millions of Hondurans participated between 2020 and 2021 to express their rejection of the ZEDEs and, in particular, of Prospera.

In the weeks leading up to the 17th anniversary of the 2009 coup in Honduras, dozens of social movements and grassroots organizations are coordinating press conferences, collecting signatures, blocking roads, and demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court. All of these actions aim to denounce a series of laws that promote and prioritize large-scale private investment in the agribusiness, tourism, and energy sectors, which they claim are returning Honduras to the narco-dictatorship that followed the coup (2009-2022). The resistance of these movements is directly linked to the intensification of US intervention in Honduras.

This article by Honduras Now, attempting to make sense of the current political shifts in Honduras,  reviews the political developments from the military coup in 2009 to the imminent developments resembling post coup narco dictatorship, restoring right wing policies and thus becoming yet another functionair fostering trump administrations agenda in central america.   

Though the original teachings of protecting the environment originate in the Bible, documents such as Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti continue to promote ecological justice today. Forces such as capitalism are disrupting peace and driving exploitation of natural resources. Conflicts over natural resources must be solved with moral, cultural, and pastoral responses in collaboration with legal and economic frameworks. Many prominent members of the Catholic Church, such as Juan Antonio López, have worked vigorously to protect the people and the environment from capitalistic systems that are destroying the peace and planet. Holistic work like that of Juan Antonio López makes people targets to those who hold immense power and wealth. Tragically, Juan Antonio López was murdered in Honduras on September 14, 2024, for his activism. His death proves that peace and justice must work hand in hand for the common good.

BBC reviews their interviews with the recently (under scandalous contions) pardoned, former Honduran President JOH Juan Orlando Hernandez. 

Honduran authorities arrested former mayor Adán Fúnez and two others for allegedly masterminding the 2024 assassination of environmental activist Juan López, a prominent opponent of a controversial mining project. The case highlights ongoing violence against environmental defenders in Honduras, where activism remains highly dangerous amid corruption, impunity, and conflicts over natural resources.

Honduras’s November 30 general elections took place in a highly polarized environment marked by institutional weaknesses, technical failures, foreign interference, and low public trust. Although reforms since 2021 improved the electoral framework, partisan divisions caused gridlock and delays in key decisions.

Technical problems—especially with the results transmission system—produced irregular data and inconsistencies, fueling fraud claims and a contentious, incomplete recount process. At the same time, public interventions by US political figures, including Donald Trump, added external pressure that may have influenced voters.

A CEPR observation mission found no evidence of fraud in the presidential vote but could not fully assess the impact of data irregularities due to limited access. Nasry Asfura was declared the winner by a narrow margin before all disputed ballots were reviewed, returning the National Party to power after a controversial post-2009 period marked by corruption and human rights abuses.

Civil society has raised concerns about a possible resurgence of authoritarian practices, especially amid recent contested removals of electoral officials by Congress.

A leaked audio recording points to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, Javier Milei, and Donald Trump as attempting to create a platform to spread fake news about the administrations of Claudia Sheinbaum, Lula, and Gustavo Petro