NEWS
Doctors Without Borders call for the implementation of the Comprehensive Care Protocol for Sexual Violence Victims and Survivors
One year and half after Honduras approved the Comprehensive Care Protocol for Sexual Violence Victims and Survivors, Doctors Without Borders denounced that the protocol has not been implemented. There are no health facilities or clear mechanisms to avoid revictimization. Medical personnel in several parts of the country don’t know how to provide post-exposure prophylaxis, and the population doesn’t know where to seek help in case of a medical emergency.
Honduran appeals court returns assets to the Rosenthal family
The Criminal Appeals Court in the Francisco Morazán department ruled in favor of returning properties, vehicles, bank accounts and businesses that Honduran authorities had seized from the Rosenthal family in 2019. Banco Continental and Empacadora Continental are among the seized businesses, both of which allegedly laundered drug proceeds, according to US authorities. Additionally, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) found that Honduras is responsible for jeopardizing the Rosenthal family estate.
Violence on the streets of San Pedro Sula during the state of emergency
While the Honduran government announced that homicides decreased in 2023, multiple disappearances have been registered in the Rivera Hernández district, San Pedro Sula, since the state of emergency was imposed in December 2022. But these cases of violence do not appear in official registries. A large segment of the population considers that the fight against crime is moving backwards, and promises to tackle organized crime in neighborhoods around the country have withered along with Hondurans’ trust in security forces.
Schools, housing and staple grains: The rushed cooperation between Honduras and China
In March 2024, one year after establishing diplomatic relations, China and Honduras signed an economic cooperation agreement whereby the latter would receive a $280 million donation to improve the infrastructure and equipment of education centers around the country. The first disbursement was announced at the signing of the contract, but Honduran authorities say they don’t have access to the funds yet, and the Foreign Ministry’s transparency portal doesn’t provide additional information on the agreement – which was signed after the National Assembly passed a bill allowing negotiations, agreements and treaties ratified by the Honduran State to be conducted secretively.
MULTIMEDIA
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.
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IN DEPTH INVESTIGATION
Featured Investigation
Mining megaproject illegally built on land destined for agrarian reform
Between 2017 and 2022, representatives of Inversiones Los Pinares, acting in complicity with officials from the administration of Juan Orlando Hernández – including Ramón Lara Bueso, former director of the National Agrarian Institute (INA), and Ilsa Lorena Torres, former congressional candidate from the Libre Party – illegally obtained title deeds of land destined for agrarian reform to build part of a mining megaproject, which has caused an environmental conflict that still has consequences for the municipality of Tocoa, northern Honduras.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Doctors Without Borders call for the implementation of the Comprehensive Care Protocol for Sexual Violence Victims and Survivors
One year and half after Honduras approved the Comprehensive Care Protocol for Sexual Violence Victims and Survivors, Doctors Without Borders denounced that the protocol has not been implemented. There are no health facilities or clear mechanisms to avoid revictimization. Medical personnel in several parts of the country don’t know how to provide post-exposure prophylaxis, and the population doesn’t know where to seek help in case of a medical emergency.
Colorless Corals Pose a Grave Warning for Honduran Reefs
Honduras’ last Garifuna refuge
