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☆ Honduras lifts decade-long ban on 'morning after pill'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Castro, the country's first female president, took office last year after running on the promise of rolling back the country's restrictive reproductive policies. Honduras, a heavily Catholic nation, banned the use and sale of the morning after pill in 2009, arguing the emergency contraception would cause abortions. Castro, who signed the order on International Women's Day, tweeted that the morning after pill was "part of women's reproductive rights, and not abortive," citing the World Health Organization. The year before Castro took office, Honduras' Congress passed a constitutional reform to protect anti-abortion laws, requiring a three-fourths vote to change them. Between 50,000 to 80,000 clandestine abortions occur each year in the country, according to a 2019 estimate from local rights groups.

☆ Honduras extends, expands state of emergency for second time
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Honduran government extended its state of emergency for a second time on Tuesday, while also expanding it to cover a growing portion of the Central American country, as part of leftist President Xiomara Castro's crackdown on gangs. The state of emergency, initially covering the country's two largest cities, now covers 123 municipalities. "The success of the operation is measured by the number of lives saved, not by the number of arrests, weapons seized or drugs seized," Sanchez added. The state of emergency allows authorities to restrict freedom of movement and assembly, as well as to search homes and make arrests without a warrant. Honduras' crackdown follows a nearly year-old state of emergency in neighboring El Salvador, which has widespread public support but has swelled the prison population and drawn allegations of human rights abuses.

☆ Ex-Honduras president bribed by prominent family, U.S. prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was bribed by the country's prominent Rosenthal family, which owned a "massive" group of businesses in the Central American country, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday. Marlon Duarte, a lawyer for the Rosenthal family in Honduras, denied the allegations. The wealthy and politically connected Rosenthal family once controlled businesses including a soccer club, an automobile importer and one of the country's largest banks through their Grupo Continental conglomerate. Duarte noted that Hernandez was president when the Honduran government seized Grupo Continental's assets. "Juan Orlando Hernandez was against all the Rosenthals," Duarte told Reuters in a telephone interview, arguing that prosecutors would struggle to prove the family bribed Hernandez.

☆ Ex-Honduras president says current government impeding U.S. defense case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A lawyer for Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former Honduran president who is facing U.S. drugs and weapons charges, on Tuesday accused the Central American country's current government of setting up obstacles to his defense. In a hearing on Hernandez's case in Manhattan federal court, defense lawyer Raymond Colon said individuals in Honduras he was hoping to speak with were "being intimidated," without providing evidence. Gerardo Torres, Honduras' deputy foreign minister, denied Colon's claims. "I don't know where that accusation against the government of Honduras comes from," Torres told Reuters. Honduran President Xiomara Castro, a leftist who replaced Hernandez last year after beating a candidate from his right-leaning National Party, has pledged to tackle corruption.

☆ Honduras extends, expands state of emergency meant to fight crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Fredy Rodriguez/File PhotoTEGUCIGALPA, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The Honduran government on Saturday extended a state of emergency declaration for 45 days, expanding it to additional areas of the country in an effort to fight criminal gangs amid high levels of violence. The state of emergency, in place since Dec. 6 in 165 areas of Honduras' largest two cities, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, has been expanded to 235 of the country's 298 municipalities, the national police said. Police chief Gustavo Sanchez said the decision, based on what he told journalists were good results during December, will allow continued reductions in crime and violence. During the first month of the measures, 39 criminal gangs were destroyed and 652 people were arrested, while 43 kilos of cocaine and thousands of grams and rocks of crack were seized, the police said. Reporting by Orfa Mejia in Tegucigalpa; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Honduras to sign agreement for U.N. anti-corruption mission
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Gustavo Palencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Honduras will sign an agreement Thursday to install a United Nations-backed anti-corruption mission in the country, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday, making good on a key campaign pledge of President Xiomara Castro to root out graft. The foreign ministry tweeted that the agreement will be signed Thursday, but later took down the post. Hernandez was extradited to the United States earlier this year on drug-trafficking charges. A similar mission supported by the Organization of the American States (OAS) operated in Honduras until January 2020, but disbanded after then-President Hernandez let its mandate expire. The OAS mission, called the Mission to Support the Fight Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), was created in 2016 and led corruption investigations into officials, legislators and Hernandez himself.

☆ Honduras to suspend some constitutional rights to fight gang violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The government of Honduras announced on Saturday that it will suspend some constitutional rights in areas of two main cities controlled by criminal groups. The cities have been struggling with a so-called "war tax", in which gangs offer protection or say that those who pay up will not be killed. The gangs have torched buses and killed drivers who did not pay the fee, prompting businesses and people to pay out of fear. The measure, which is expected to be endorsed by the council of ministers, is part of President Xiomara Castro's plan to deal with violent gangs. Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Edited by Noé Torres and Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Honduras declares national emergency over gang extortions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Congress must still approve the suspension of constitutional rights, though the security plan came into force on Thursday. The declaration also authorizes the Honduran government to make extraordinary use of public funds to combat criminal gangs known for involvement in illicit activities such as kidnapping and drug trafficking. The leftist president announced the new plan to combat extortion afflicting the impoverished Central American nation in a television broadcast. In exchange for a so-called "war tax", gangs offer protection or say that those who pay up will not be killed. The gangs have torched buses and killed drivers who did not pay the fee, prompting businesses and people to pay out of fear.

☆ U.S. extends protected migrant status to mid-2024 for six nationalities
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The United States has extended a protected status program that prevents migrants from being deported to mid-2024 for citizens of six countries, including Haiti and three Central American nations, its immigration service said on Thursday. The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be extended to June 30, 2024, for citizens of Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal, according to a document filed by the U.S. The TPS program provides recipients work permits and can protect them from deportation if their home countries go through extraordinary events such as natural disaster or armed conflict. The extension will affect about 392,000 people, of whom some 242,000 are citizens of El Salvador, according to USCIS data. "Thanks be to God," said Salvadoran Ambassador to the United States Milena Mayorga, tweeting a link to the document.

☆ Fact Check-Parachute display gone wrong was filmed in Honduras
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A video of four parachutists making haphazard landings inside a football stadium has been falsely linked by social media users to Uganda. “A parachute display by Uganda's Special Forces went somewhat tits up,” wrote one verified Twitter user as a caption (here). But the video was filmed in Honduras and is unrelated to Uganda. According to local media, 40 Air Force paratroopers conducted a display over the stadium on Sept. 15 to mark Honduras Independence Day. The video was captured in Honduras.

☆ Julia kills 14 in Central America as it churns toward Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Residents clean a mudslide in a road while Tropical Storm Julia hits with wind and rain, in San Salvador, El Salvador, October 10, 2022. REUTERS/Jose CabezasSAN SALVADOR, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The death toll from Tropical storm Julia rose to at least 14 on Monday, officials said, with victims confirmed in El Salvador and Honduras, as the weakening storm dumped heavy rainfall on a swath of Central America and southern Mexico. Authorities in both El Salvador and Guatemala also canceled classes on Monday. In Nicaragua, Julia left a million people without power and heavy rains and floods forced the evacuations of more than 13,000 families. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa and Brendan O'Boyle in Mexico City; Editing by Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Honduras former first lady gets 14 years in prison on fraud charges
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterFormer first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla de Lobo arrives at a court hearing after being convicted on graft charges, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras August 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge CabreraTEGUCIGALPA, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A Honduran court sentenced the country's former first lady, Rosa Bonilla, to 14 years in prison on Wednesday on charges of fraud and misappropriation of funds destined for social programs, a judicial spokesperson said. Bonilla had previously been sentenced to 58 years in prison in an earlier trial, which Honduras' Supreme Court annulled in early 2020, arguing it was full of inconsistencies. The Supreme Court ordered a re-trial by a lower court, which found Bonilla guilty in March of this year. (Corrects USD conversion in paragraph 2 to $590,000 from $590 million)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Gustavo Palencia; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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