An indigenous reservation in the Colombian Amazon was included in two separate carbon market projects that were approved and have sold credits, in what may have constituted a case of double counting. The promoters of the newer project, which sold credits to the US airline, claim to have made the
For Honduran women, crossing the street without being victims of harassment is improbable and crossing borders without suffering gender-based violence is unimaginable. Rosa – a name she chose to protect her identity – escaped from her aggressor twice. The first time she tried to reach the United States with her
Interview. Attorney Alex Navas, Cristosal’s national legal coordinator in Honduras and a former Maccih official, told Contracorriente that the prosecutorial injunction recently issued against a person implicated in the murder of Berta Cáceres reminds him of Maccih’s investigations into the Atalas family – a family with a lot of economic
Climate change is already pushing Honduran reefs to their limits.
Several members of Indigenous communities, including leaders, who hold a peaceful protest in front of the Attorney General’s Office in Ciudad de Guatemala, asserted that they are guardians of democracy. However, they distance themselves from political and electoral struggles. The Attorney General’s Office and the Constitutional Court have undertaken a
In Honduras, the journey of thousands of migrants has been exploited by businesses that generate millions of lempiras in profits. In addition to Honduran migrants, Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans have become a source of income for “coyotes,” people who smuggle migrants across borders. According to sources consulted by Contracorriente,
On October 31, ordinary sessions in National Congress were brought to a close. This was the last opportunity to ratify the repeal of the ZEDE law. However, the session was marred by disagreements between parties and acts of violence, sidelining one of the most important campaign promises made by the
Seen above is Nicaraguan bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was expatriated and is serving a 26-year prison sentence for alleged treason, as punishment for opposing the government of Daniel Ortega, in Managua, Nicaragua.
In a forum held in Costa Rica in which three experts participated, it was stated that the most critical case on authoritarianism is Nicaragua, however, they noted that in El Salvador “an authoritarian regime has been configured under the veil of protection in the fight against gangs”, alongside Guatemala where
Leaders of this criminal organization were indicted in the U.S., but some members have served their sentences and returned to Honduras, where they face no criminal charges. Following their apprehension and extradition in 2014, the Valles cartel was able to recover their assets, largely attributable to the slow pace of
The electoral victory of Bernardo Arévalo and the Movimiento Semilla party in Guatemala, and the response of the people to the multiple attempts to prevent his inauguration and that of the party’s representatives in Congress are signs that a desire for democratic change is a latent force in society.
Josías Aguilar, an attorney who had previously worked as a detective in two operations against the Valle Valle Cartel at the age of 21, exposed the connections between the drug trade and siblings Tony and Juan Orlando Hernandez. While working for the Attorney General’s Office, Aguilar brought to light
Yesterday, Guatemala held the second round of its presidential election. During the first round in June, the country experienced something unexpected: the underdog, a party founded by academics and progressive reformists, garnered enough votes to make it to the second round. During the first round, Semilla received little to no
The death of young Keren López at the hands of the Honduran State, who had custody of the child, shocked public opinion because this is not an isolated event in the lives of children in Honduras. Human rights activists point out that children have not been a priority.
Last night, Arnol Javier Alemán, one of the eight Guapinol defenders who had been released in February 2022 after spending 29 months imprisoned in a process characterized as arbitrary, was detained by the Honduran National Police. According to the defense attorneys’, the police have stated that there is still an
Six international claims against the Honduran State were submitted to arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an institution that is part of the World Bank and based in Washington D.C. Some of these claims were brought forward by the investment firm Zede Próspera, and two
Rosy Flores always wanted to be a criminal lawyer in El Progreso, a small and violent city in northern Honduras. Ten months passed before she decided to quit her job, a profession where women face a glass ceiling and threats come from all sides: from the accused but also from
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
They come from Colombia, Spain, the United States, Peru, Mexico, or Israel. They flourish in electoral campaigns. They are political consultants. This investigation reveals unspeakable secrets from international corporations that sold influence and victories in Honduras. Without regulations or transparency, it is unsurprising that Honduras holds the record for the
The Argentinean consultant, an excentric and provocative character, broke into South American politics in 2020 for his intervention in electoral campaigns in digital media for the far-right. Although his past is a mystery, Cerimedo has installed himself with controversial campaigns that included disinformation in Chile and Brazil. His next goal
No one saw it coming. Not the polls, experts, political strategists, or the public, no one. We were disheartened, as it usually happens when darkness clouds our hopes for the future. We expected the worst, two female candidates from political parties made up of questionable people, some of who have
The death of 46 women in the National Female Penitentiary for Social Adaptation (Penitenciaría Nacional Femenina de Adaptación Social – PNFAS) exposed the poor decisions of the State in the face of a prison crisis that had already sounded alarms. The Xiomara Castro Administration improvised an intervention in the penitentiary
An investigation by Contracorriente revealed the effects of drug trafficking in the communities of El Merendón, in northern Honduras, where villagers still fear Geovanny Fuentes despite his arrest and sentence in the United States. Fuentes used public institutions to carry out illegal activities and his case showed how rooted criminal
The death of 46 inmates in The National Female Peninntenciary for Social Adaptation (PNFAS in Spanish), the murder of Ericka Julissa Bandy, in broad daylight in a bakery in San Pedro Sula, and the murder of 13 people in a pool hall in the Lopez Arellano sector in Choloma were
Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez used to be a businessman in the timber industry and an ambitious drug dealer in Choloma, northern Honduras. He set up his own narcotics lab in the most remote region of El Merendón. There, with the connivance of municipal authorities, military and police officers, the support of
In the mountain range of El Merendón, in northern Honduras, coffee is grown in almost three thousand blocks of land, 80 percent of which is found in a nature reserve that provides water and oxygen to the second largest city in the country, San Pedro Sula. Coffee producers are our
Text:Javier Carrington Graphics:Persy Cabrera Translated and Edited by: Jorge Paz Reyes When we talk about screams, we always associate them with violence or lack of understanding, without having a clear view of what they are and what they are for. Usually, screams are emotional manifestations, those that serve to bring
Indigenous Tolupan communities who live in the mountains of Yoro have to walk for hours to access basic health services, a debt owed to them by the State. When they arrive at the welfare center, no matter what ails them, there’s only acetaminophen available.
There are approximately 200,000 active workers during harvest season in the sugar industry in Honduras. Most are working under a subcontract for sugar refineries and are not protected by labor laws such as social security, unemployment, or retirement benefits. Payment varies according to the amount they harvest, and workers often
In 2022, around 190,000 people entered Honduras irregularly, the majority of them from Cuba and Venezuela; more people than in the past 12 years. Honduras, a country in exodus, where more than 15,000 people emigrated in caravans, has now become a stopover to the north. At 4,000 kilometers from the
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
Shortly before May 17, the international day against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, I’m writing this article to reflect on something that has gained momentum in the last few years and doesn’t seem to stop. But to put it in context, I think it is important to mention some background information
A day after two well-known environmentalists from Guapinol were murdered, a Twitter smear campaign dating back to 2021 intensified once again. The campaign accuses members of an environmentalist group that opposes a mine development of being ‘fake environmentalists’ and taking part in the murders of 10 people in the thick
There exist three political realities in Honduras that we need to take into consideration when talking about the LGBTQI+ community; the first one is that what is not named does not exist, the second is we are all inherently political because we seek to be part of the decision-making process
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
On Tuesday, January 31, at the Soto Cano air base, Arnaldo Urbina Soto, the former mayor of Yoro municipality, was handed over to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for extradition to the United States.
On January 27, as President Xiomara Castro’s government marked one year in office, feminist activists counted 365 femicides over that same period – one for every day of 2022. Indeed, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, femicides and violent deaths of women in Honduras increased 51% in 2022. Reporting on
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced that after their special «Shadow Diplomats», an investigation in which Contracorriente participated in collaboration with the Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística (CLIP), multiple governments announced the termination or revision of their honorary consul titles. The government of Jordan announced the ending of
On 7 January 2023, passengers on a bus traveling between Guapinol and Concepción witnessed a shocking scene: two men lay dead beside a motorcycle while the engine ran. Upon recognizing the deceased, those onboard sent the news back home. The two men, Alí Domínguez (35) and Jairo Bonilla (28), were
Text: Teddy BacaGraphic: Daniel FonsecaTranslated & Edited by: Jorge Paz Reyes Many things have happened since I last wrote for Contracorriente: I finished some diploma courses, I started writing a new book -which I later canceled-, I found a job, I ended and started working relationship, among other things. Currently,
In an exclusive interview for Contracorriente (CC), Undersecretary Uzra Zeya (UZ) spoke about her government’s support to Honduras on issues of education, security, migration and human rights and about the conditions of the United States to support the installation of an International Commission against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (CICIH)
President Xiomara Castro has officially denounced the Guapinol mine and Palmerola airport projects. They are going ahead regardless, with no interruption to the power and influence of businessman Lenir Pérez, who owns the concessions for both projects. Pérez has already been accused of benefiting from his relations with former president
An oil concession held by BG International Limited (BG Group) in Honduras’ Miskito Keys (Cayos Miskitos), home to the indigenous Garífuna community, is under question by that community. Garífuna leader Miriam Miranda says BGI Group’s exploration and exploitation project began, and continues, without carrying out a free and informed prior
Translated on December 13 •
With the launch of the ‘Comprehensive Plan To Address Extortion and Related Crimes’, the Honduran government appears to be imitating neighboring El Salvador’s ‘Territorial Control Plan’, under which the Salvadoran government claims to have captured some 56,000
Translated on November 21 •
Honorary consuls are limited-function, voluntary diplomatic actors whose role proceeds for an undetermined period of time. In Honduras today there are 62 honorary consuls, most being Honduran businessmen.This is the story of eight members of the Kafie
Translated on November 13
• Last Monday a violent eviction on Honduras’ Caribbean coast left six members of the Garífuna community detained and several injured, according to the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña – OFRANEH). The National Police and
Translated on October 24 •
The creation of the General Department of Information and Press by executive decree of the Xiomara Castro government has raised concerns about threats to the freedom of the press in Honduras. Minister for Strategic Planning, Ricardo Salgado denied
At the entrance to the Metropolitan Preventative Police Unit (Unidad Metropolitana de Prevención – UMEP) in the city of Trujillo in northern Honduras, once the haven of the drug trafficking cartel ‘Los Cachiros’, a vehicle with more than a hundred large caliber bullet holes sits on display.
Honduras’ National Police, a
In the coastal border area between Honduras and Guatemala lies the land once slated for the Cuyamel-Omoa National Park (El Parque Nacional Cuyamel-Omoa – PANACO). In 2011, Honduran environmental authorities, with information and support from different NGOs, proposed that a protected area be created there. The wetlands of the region
In Honduras, climate change affects 90% of the population on a daily basis, underscoring the need for real solutions from the authorities. Journalists for the Planet (PxP) and the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) are joining forces to provide journalists in the region with tools to cover stories on ecosystem
Translated on October 12, 2022 | Last month, three young people died and 31 were hospitalized during a training session for aspiring auxiliary officers at the National Police Academy (Academia Nacional de Policía -ANAPO). For now, a definitive version of what happened is not known, nor have the autopsies
Translated on September 29th | Protests by Indigenous peoples and environmental groups in Honduras have been taking place in Tegucigalpa to demand that the Xiomara Castro government fulfill its commitments, such as ending open-pit mining and destroying a drug smuggling road.
The president has been silent, while her husband,
As she was leaving the September 15 Independence Day parade, Dulce Pamela Bizarro, a trans woman and member of the LGBTQIA+ contingent, said, “We are so happy to have participated in the parade, even though at first people insulted us and threw things at us. But we are here because
“I have an aunt who gets her news from TikTok,” says Paola Palacios, a Honduran whose family lives in Arizona in the United States.
Translated on September 08th – In November 2021, the defenders of the Guapinol River in Carlos Escaleras National Park, northern Honduras, cast a ‘vote of hope’ for President Xiomara Castro, whose government promised to stop open-pit mining. Today, the Guapinol community is still fighting businessperson Lenir Pérez’s mining project,
On August 9, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña – OFRANEH) held a demonstration at the Justice Ministry, petitioning the state of Honduras regarding the lack of investigation into the forced disappearance of four indigenous Garífuna people. There hasn’t been any
The United Nations (UN) has delivered a draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Honduras and the UN Secretariat to the Xiomara Castro government. Three anti-corruption experts shared their experiences in a Twitter Space organized by Contracorriente in order to analyse what is needed for a successful anti-corruption
One year after the decision in the case “Vicky Hernandez and Others vs Honduras” where the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (ICHR) ruled in favor of the LGBTQ+ community and led President Xiomara Castro to apologize on behalf of the Honduran government for the killing of trans activist, Vicky Hernandez,
Journalists in Honduras are vulnerable to violence, and impunity is the norm after any are attacked, threatened, or murdered. The only body in Honduras that investigates violence against journalists is the FEPRODDHH (a special prosecutor office). However, it only has five courts, all in Tegucigalpa and no dedicated investigators or
David Castillo, the former general manager of energy company DESA, was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for being one of the intellectual authors of the murder of indigenous leader and environmentalist Berta Cáceres. Her relatives and colleagues are now demanding that the Atala clan face justice.
Lideni is a Lenca person; one of the main Indigenous peoples of Honduras. A young girl, Lideni and her family were not allowed to return to their home in Tierras del Padre after her mother was issued a restraining order. Lideni eventually returned, but three attempts at eviction have made
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicts that food insecurity could worsen in Honduras over the next few months. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has pushed up the cost of fertilizer and fuel, and small Honduran farmers are getting desperate and lack assistance from public agricultural programs. Meanwhile,
Xiomara Castro became the first female president of Honduras. She ran with the Libre Party, the party founded by her husband, José Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, not long after the coup d’état that ousted him from power in 2009. Castro promised a new future for Honduras after 12 years of National
Daniel Valencia is editor-in-chief of La Prensa Gráfica in El Salvador and coordinator of the Redacción Regional journalism project. Jennifer Ávila Reyes is director of Contracorriente in Honduras. José Luis Pardo Veiras is editorial director of Dromómanos in Mexico. Last week, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) traveled the
The first 100 days of Honduran president Xiomara Castro’s administration have exposed the complex situation facing Honduras. Internal conflicts within the president’s party and the political alliance that won the elections last November have hampered real change. Although Castro has kept some of her promises, the country’s structural problems are
Shortly after his extradition to the United States on a DEA plane, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York released its indictment of the former president of Honduras. The indictment alleges that, in addition to drug trafficking and firearms possession, the former president received bribes
On June 3, 2021, U.S. president Joe Biden announced that fighting corruption would be a key objective of his administration. Soon after, various U.S. government departments and agencies began to quickly expand their efforts to combat corruption at home and abroad. President Biden’s anti-corruption strategy could very well color his
Translated on April 20 | A judge authorized the seizure of 33 properties, eight businesses, 16 vehicles, and other financial assets from former president Juan Orlando Hernández’s family. However, this represents less than half of Hernández’s $7.8 million net worth.
Recent news reports said that the former first lady
Olivia Aurora began her legal battle against Grupo Karims when it fired her in September 2016. This multinational conglomerate is controlled by Yusuf Amdani, a man of Pakistani origins and Honduran citizenship, who owns the Altara shopping center, Altia Business Park, Merendón Hills, and the giant Green Valley manufacturing complex.
To understand the mass emmigration of the Honduran people, we must review the last decade of this country: a coup d’état, a looted and poor country, and a narco-state. In Lucerna, a small border town in western Honduras, a worker can earn US$36 a week, but in the United States
On March 16, after a judge authorized the extradition of former President Juan Orlando Hernández to the United States on drug trafficking and weapons charges, Hernández sat down in the Supreme Court president’s chair and began to record a video. The incident did not sit well with the Special Commission
More than a month after Hondurans elected their first female president, her administration done little for gender issues. The mostly male Castro cabinet now has to live up to its campaign promises to reduce femicide, decriminalize three grounds for abortion, and approve the use of emergency contraceptive pills, banned since
As detained former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández faces extradition to the United States on three drug trafficking charges, this investigation examines a group of his relatives and friends, who have been partners for years in a maze of charities and companies in Honduras and Florida, multiple of which have
Ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022) was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa and taken to the police special forces headquarters after the United States requested his extradition on drug trafficking charges.
The communities in the Dry Corridor of southern Honduras mostly work in the “Coyolito Club” industries: shrimp, sugar cane and melon farming. Companies in these three industries are often the only source of work, but have been accused of human and labor rights violations. They may also be contributing to
Legislators from the faction supporting Luis Redondo as president of the National Congress met on February 2 to vote on several laws that fulfill some of President Xiomara Castro’s campaign promises. A law proposed by Representative Rasel Tomé condemning the coup that deposed Manuel Zelaya 12 years earlier was approved,
Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, repeatedly accused of having direct ties to drug traffickers, became a representative to the Central American Parliament in a virtual swearing-in ceremony on January 27. This granted him immunity from prosecution and extradition. A few days earlier, Representative Norma Torres of California had sent
I just wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice urging them to immediately indict and extradite former President Hernandez to be tried on drug-trafficking charges. Hernandez was identified as a co-conspirator in his brother’s case here in the United States, and the DOJ said that President Hernandez “played
Competing boards of directors of the National Congress were sworn in on January 23 in Honduras. One was elected by a group of 79 legislators who met offsite, 30 kilometers from the National Congress’s chambers. The other board was elected by 50 members of Congress who met in a legislative
It has been almost two years since Honduras’ education ministry suspended classroom schooling following the first detected cases of COVID-19 in March 2020. The pandemic forced students and teachers into virtual learning in a country with low levels of technology and high rates of poverty. Honduras is currently the only
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