NEWS
NEWS
Former President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández is found guilty of drug trafficking in the U.S.
A 12-person jury found former President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández guilty of drug trafficking and weapons possession charges after a two-week trial in the U.S. Hernández led a drug cartel as president, turning Honduras into a narco-state. The judge is expected to pronounce sentence on June 26, 2024.
In depth Investigations
The carbon offset project promoted in Honduras’ La Moskitia in the absence of consultations with Indigenous peoples
A carbon offset project in Honduras’ La Moskitia has set off alarms among a faction of Indigenous Miskito authorities, who claim that there was no prior consultation. This project, which has been promoted by the Spanish non-governmental organization Ayuda en Acción and designed by the Swiss company South Pole sparked concern at Verra, the U.S.-based certifying standards body that rejected its approval due to the absence of a consultation with local communities and doubts about the validity of data presented in its documents. This case underscores that while President Xiomara Castro promised to protect environmentally valuable areas by allowing Honduras to enter global carbon markets, some of these projects have been put in motion without consulting Indigenous peoples, who should be the main beneficiaries.
The carbon offset project promoted in Honduras’ La Moskitia in the absence of consultations with Indigenous peoples
A carbon offset project in Honduras’ La Moskitia has set off alarms among a faction of Indigenous Miskito authorities, who claim that there was no prior consultation. This project, which has been promoted by the Spanish non-governmental organization Ayuda en Acción and designed by the Swiss company South Pole sparked concern at Verra, the U.S.-based certifying standards body that rejected its approval due to the absence of a consultation with local communities and doubts about the validity of data presented in its documents. This case underscores that while President Xiomara Castro promised to protect environmentally valuable areas by allowing Honduras to enter global carbon markets, some of these projects have been put in motion without consulting Indigenous peoples, who should be the main beneficiaries.
Special Investigations
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Photo GALLERies
Long-awaited and partial justice for Honduran political refugee in the U.S.
Monserrat is the daughter of Margarita Murillo, a Honduran leading activist who was involved in campesino movements until her murder in 2014. She arrived in the U.S. after receiving death threats for seeking justice for her mother and has been living as a political refugee in New York ever since. During the trial against former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a witness mentioned Marlene Banegas, a Honduran prosecutor who was murdered after receiving information that exposed Hernández’ ties to the drug trade. Banegas was also investigating Murillo’s murder.
PHOTO Reports
Indecency in the Open
Alexis Carrasco is sculpting Gallery, his other self. He has been doing it for ten years and is already an expert craftsman of the exhausting and painful work of momentarily transforming himself into a woman. First is the structure: foam rubber breasts, hips, and buttocks. That is the marble on which he sculpts his work.
Chamelecón: Neglected people rebuild
Approximately 350 families from the sector of Chamelecón are seeking refuge underneath a bridge; shelters are not an option. The families hope to avoid both flooding and the violence of the gangs who control their community.
REGIONAL NEWS
Featured
Editorial
An imposed refoundation
Hondurans euphorically relived celebrations of the November 2021 elections, which had the highest voter turnout in recent history, when former President Juan Orlando Hernández was apprehended in February 2022. Hernández was prosecuted in the U.S. and is now awaiting trial for drug trafficking charges. However, hope for a possible way out of a prolonged political crisis to a period of democratization quickly turned to frustration, a change that began in National Congress when the new administration took office.
OPINION
Central American and Palestinian Liberation Struggles are Intertwined
The past four months have been one that has further exposed the farce of the “Western” world order we live in. The State of Israel has killed over 30,000 Palestinians, with the backing of North American and European “democracies” while people all over the world bear witness to endless massacres and dehumanization live streamed on social media platforms.
Will we be able to heal our wounds after this trial?
Amilcar Alexander Ardón Soriano walked to the witness stand, beneath the solemn gaze of Judge Castel, presiding over the trial that is still an open wound within all Hondurans. A wound that cannot be explained, yet has fractured us, leading us to address—or rather, complicate—every issue with a relentless cycle of dispossession.
An imposed refoundation
Hondurans euphorically relived celebrations of the November 2021 elections, which had the highest voter turnout in recent history, when former President Juan Orlando Hernández was apprehended in February 2022. Hernández was prosecuted in the U.S. and is now awaiting trial for drug trafficking charges. However, hope for a possible way out of a prolonged political crisis to a period of democratization quickly turned to frustration, a change that began in National Congress when the new administration took office.
Diverse Vocies
Abigaíl Galindo’s last photographs
In the image captured thirty years ago, four women engaged in sex work wait for clients on a park bench in Comayagüela, under a tree. From left to right pose Gaby Spanik, Bessy Ferrera, Abigaíl Galindo and Michelle: four important…
Documenting daily life
Colorless Corals Pose a Grave Warning for Honduran Reefs
Climate change is already pushing Honduran reefs to their limits
Bukele’s administration awarded public works contracts to public officials, members of the Nuevas Ideas party and sanctioned companies without experience
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele diverted funds from the development of municipalities to create an institution that decides what public works projects will be carried out and which companies will be hired to do so He argues that the decision was made to end corruption by the opposition in municipalities However
Honduras’ last Garifuna refuge
Comayagüela is the commercial epicenter of the capital of Honduras and also the most unequal There violence and multiple expressions of survival converge On the main street of the Las Crucitas neighborhood is Rinconcito Jamaica a safe space for internally displaced Garifuna women who see Olivia Sierra the owner as
Don Pedro, an environmentalist veteran, continues to defend Honduras’ western lands despite growing threats
Pedro Pinto 67 has spent over half his life defending the environment in the western region of Ocotepeque Honduras In November 2022 two of his vehicles were burned by an unknown party he suspects that they were enemies of his work as an environmental defender In Honduras protecting the environment
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