Honduras did not experience civil war in the 1980s, but its geography (bordering El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) made it a key location for US military operations: training Salvadoran soldiers, a base for Nicaraguan contras, military exercises for US troops. The notorious Honduran death squad Battalion 316 was created, funded and trained by the US. The state-sponsored terror resulted in the forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of approximately 200 people during the 1980s. Many more were abducted and tortured. The 2009 military coup d’etat spawned a resurgence of state repression against the civilian population that continues today. The hardline approach to violence, a model used by President Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, is gaining increasing support in Central America, a region that has been historically plagued by insecurity, whether related to gangs or drug trafficking.
Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras are three countries that have adopted measures similar to those implemented by the Salvadoran leader, despite the criticism he receives from human rights organizations.
The article examines Honduras’s fragile political transition after a narrowly contested and widely questioned election, assessing Xiomara Castro’s mixed legacy, the deep crisis of the electoral system, and the enduring power of corruption and impunity. It analyzes the fragmented National Congress, the human rights risks tied to a private-sector-driven economic agenda, and the renewed alignment with the United States under Trump, warning that without structural reforms and accountability, governance will rely on transactional politics rather than democratic legitimacy—at high cost to civic space, Indigenous and Garifuna communities, and long-term stability.
Admist media attention being drawn to trumps "war on drugs" and his interference in Venezuela, a regime change operation in Honduras and the pardoning of its former president --a convicted criminal, drug trafficker--is overshadowed. This article gives insight on how the elections went (November 30 2025) and which parties were involved with not only influencing elections but the broader political landscape in Honduras.
This article by InSight Crime reviews the conspiratorial nature of the Berta Cáceres murder ten years ago. In February 2025, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights announced the creation of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes – GIEI) responsible for producing this report. ary 2025 The report’s investigators tied one deposit in the amount of $2.6 million that development banks made to the account of CONCASA (a shell company) in December 2015 directly to Cáceres’ murderers.
Due to the dramatic and chaotic ending to the recent presidential election in Honduras, the international human rights organization Global Exchange and the Center for the Study of Democracy wrote a report stating that Honduras is navigating the collision of corporate lawsuits, historical corruption, and the urgent struggle for democracy.
The report concludes that Honduras is trapped between the desire to reform and a pushback from international capital and domestic elites. To break this “siege,” Global Exchange recommends that Honduras withdraw from international arbitration treaties that prioritize profits over human rights; abolish ZEDEs to restore full national sovereignty; establish an independent mechanism to protect human rights defenders; and prosecute those responsible for the murders of activists, and urges the international community, especially the U.S., to respect Honduran sovereignty and allow fair elections.
Global Exchange’s report serves as both a warning and a call to action to stand with the Honduran people in their struggle for democracy and dignity.
This article by CovertAction Magazine provides an elaborate overview of Honduras' recent electoral history, its many struggles with this very crucial democratic procedure and the very recent electoral disaster.
This article from NACLA provides insight on the Trump administration's contradictory polices. Occurrences such as the bombing of fisherboats in the Caribbean are contrasted with the pardon for fomer president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted in US federal court for trafficking tons of drugs into the US.
Juan Orlando Hernández, former President of Honduras who last year was sentenced to 45 years in prison for flooding the United States with cocaine was recently pardoned by President Trump. A new article by the New Yok Times illuminates how this political act is in reluctance with the administrations “fight against drugs” and how Donald Trump's longest-serving political adviser and lobbyist Roger Stone has played into this.
Do you and your neighbors and co-workers know what to do if visited, questioned, or arrested by ICE? Do you know you can call the Ohio Immigration Hotline 419-777-HELP (4357) ? There’s also the Ohio National Lawyers Guild Hotline: (614) 654-6477
You can stay up-to-date every day on ICE activities, trends in apprehensions and detentions by following Austin Kocher on Substack https://substack.com/@austinkocher/posts
In northeast Ohio, you can reach out to irtf@irtfcleveland.org for educational resources and trainings for your workplace, congregation, or community group.
Consider your position in your community. What can you contribute to undocumented community members or migrant organizations?
Do you know any legal, mental health, social work professionals?
What about school employees?
We need EVERYONE to consider how they can mobilize support for vulnerable migrant families.
If you yourself don’t hold a professional position that is needed, consider this: Could serve as a first-call, point person for someone who is detained? Reach out to them to initiate a supportive conversation. Are you positioned to do child pick-up and safeguarding? Well-connected with community orgs or professionally situated to help with legal, medical or other needs?
See the attached flyer for more resources and ways to get involved.
