Honduras: News & Updates

Since the Biden administration restarted the Central American Minors Refugee and Parole Program (CAM program), initionaly initiated by the Obama administration and later withdrawn by Trump, not much has happened. 

Underfunding and personal shortage at the nine national resettlement agencies led to the inability to handle the mass of applications. 

Due to this bottleneck only a few hundred cases filed before the Trump administration ended the program have been completed since March 2021.

For many children this slow processing of applications means waiting times of over a year and no information on how long it will take until they are reunited with their familes.

Organizations are now calling for the support of consuls to help the children with their application interviews and pass case information on to the waiting parents or guardians.  

On September 17, the New York Times published an article  by Anatoly Kurmanaev and Jody García including misinformation and false claims about the US government's efforts to support democracy in Central America. 

The article claims that the Biden administration is working to end corruption and impunity in Guatemala, while being inactive as the military backed government  “methodically dismantled the last vestiges of independent institutions." The US is supporting this illegitimate government, referring to the Guatemalan ruling class as "democratic allies." 

Besides this, Biden lied about stopping the sanctions against Nicaragua, which the U.S. and many "western" countries have been using since the 1980's to squeeze its economy and cause political change. 

The article also states that the U.S. aided the return to democracy in Honduras. In fact, the U.S. has always held mutually beneficial relations to the Honduran government which came to power by an U.S. backed coup.     

Even though the LGBITQ+ community of Honduras is seen as equal on paper, the reality is often a different one.

Radical conservatives and many religious leaders are trying to stigmatize the LGBTIQ+ community, which makes up for  roughly 7-10% of the population. Misinformation and hate speech is used to keep LGBTIQ+ interests out of everyday lives of the Honduran population.

This article summarizes the struggles LGBTIQ+ citizens and organizations are confronted with, trying to claim their rights.  

In the struggle for environmental human rights, Honduran activists demand their government to sign and adhere to the  Escazú Agreement.  The  Escazú Agreement, the first environmental treaty of Latin America and the Caribbean, was passed by a resolution of the UN General Assembly on July 28, 2022. For the first time ever,  the United Nations recognized  that the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment requires the full implementation of the multilateral environmental agreements under the principles of international environmental law. It also recognized that the exercise of human rights, including the rights to seek, receive and impart information, to participate effectively in the conduct of government and public affairs and to an effective remedy, is vital to the protection of a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Even though Honduras took part in the negotiations for the long overdue agreement, which represents a legal instrument that provides States with sufficient tools to defend human rights in the face of the great challenges of the extractive model and climate change, it never signed it. 

With the new government in office activists now hope that the agreement will be implemented, but still face massive backlash.

For the second consecutive day, workers at the textile maquila Gildan, in the Nance River Sector, Choloma, department of Cortés, are on strike demanding their labor rights and other agreements, especially a salary readjustment. The workers are also demanding the right to establish a workers' union that truly represents them. Members of the National Police went to Gildan's facilities in Choloma to talk with the protesters, who continue with the gates closed and say that they will not let the loaded trucks enter.

For water and for life, no to mining!" was the demand of the leaders of five municipalities in northeastern Honduras who arrived at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Mines (Serna) in Tegucigalpa to demand a halt to open-pit mining and the protection of the Carlos Escaleras National Park, Montaña de Botaderos.