c900BC In Honduras archeologists in 1997
discovered burial caves that date to this time. A cave from the same
period was discovered in 1994 near the Talgua River, known as the
Cave of the Glowing Skulls. The new cave was called the Cave of the
(USAT, 2/12/97, p.9D)
c435-950 The Mayan city of Copan flourished.
(SFC, 9/30/97, p.A13)
437 Nov 30, A glyph in Copan
records this date and mentions the 1st and 2nd rulers of the
(NG, 12/97, p.81)
573 In Copan the Rosalila
structure on the Acropolis culminated a period of intense
(NG, 12/97, p.92)
738 Butz Tiliw’ or Cauac Sky
defeated his overlord, Copan’s 13th ruler, 18 Rabbit. Monuments to
this event are at the Quirigua Maya site in Guatemala.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.F)
746AD Jun 12, The estimated
date for the dedication of the Mayan Temple 22 in Copan.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.31)
763 Altar Q depicts Yax Pasah,
Copan’s last dynastic ruler, receiving the symbolic baton of office
from founder K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’ in this year.
(NG, 12/97, p.80)
c900 The Mayan city-state of
Copan was abandoned
(NG, 12/97, p.80)
c1500-1600 The Lenca Indian chieftain Lempira
withdrew to the high mountains to lead resistance against the
Spaniards. According to legend he plunged to his death from a rocky
outcrop near the summit of the highest peak. The Indians developed
the Quezungal method of farming, where crops were planted under
trees that kept hillsides from eroding.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.A14)
1502 May 11, Columbus embarked
on his 4th voyage with 150 men in 4 caravels. Among those in the
fleet were Columbus's brother Bartholomew, and Columbus' younger son
Fernando, then just 13 years old.
(EWH, 1968, p.390)(WSJ, 1/11/99,
1502 Jul, Columbus reached the
northern coast of Honduras during his 4th voyage and passed south to
1543-1773 The Palacio de los Capitanes in Antigua,
Guatemala, was the center for Spanish rule over Chiapas, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua during this period.
(SFEM, 6/13/99, p.32)
1576 Mar 8, Diego Garcia de
Palacios, a representative of Spain's King Felipe II, wrote to the
crown with news of the ruins at Copan in western Honduras.
1797 Some 5,000 black Carib
Indians, also known as Garifuna or Garinagu, were exiled from St.
Vincent Island to Roatan Island off of Honduras. The Garifuna
defined themselves not by country or territory but by language and
(SFEC, 5/4/97, p.T11)(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A6)
1806 A ruling by the Spanish
king set a boundary between Honduras and Nicaragua projecting
eastward along the 15th parallel from the mouth of the Coco River.
In 1999 Nicaragua filed a border case against Honduras with the UN.
It was resolved in 2007.
1811 Scotsman Gregor MacGregor
(1786-1845), later known as His Serene Highness Gregor I, Prince of
Poyais (in modern Honduras), received a commission from Simon
Bolivar in Venezuela to serve in the Army of Liberation. After he
returned to London in 1820, he began selling land in the fictional
kingdom of Poyais. He served 8 months in jail after English and
French expeditions revealed the hoax. In 1839 he returned to
Venezuela. In 2004 David Sinclair authored "The Land That Never Was:
Sir Gregor MacGregor and the Most Audacious Land Fraud in History."
(SSFC, 1/18/04, p.M2)(WSJ, 1/30/04, p.W9)(Econ,
1821 Sep 15, A junta convened
by the captain-general in Guatemala declared independence for its
provinces Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua San Salvador
(AP, 9/15/97)(EWH, 1968, p.843)
1822-1823 Two British ships set out with settlers
for the Poyais colony in Honduras, under a scheme organized by
Scotsman Gregor MacGregor. The settlers failed to make the colony
work and many were soon ferried to Belize. Two-thirds of the
colonizers died of malaria, yellow fever and malnutrition. News
reached London and MacGregor fled to France, where he tried to find
new investors. He was imprisoned, then released and tried to float
new bonds in 1826.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.110)
1823 Jul 1, The United
Provinces of Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and San Salvador) gained independence from Mexico. The
union dissolved by 1840.
(PC, 1992, p.393)(ON, 12/99, p.5)
1839 Nov 17, Catherwood and
Stephens arrived at Copan, Honduras, and proceeded to explore the
Mayan ruins in the area.
(ON, 12/99, p.7)
1839 Nov 30, John Lloyd
Stephens left Copan for Guatemala City to locate the government of
the United Provinces of Central America.
(ON, 12/99, p.8)
1839 John Lloyd Stephens and
Frederick Catherwood explored Copan. John L. Stephens attempted to
purchase the Mayan city of Copan in Honduras.
(RFH-MDHP, p.217)(NG, 12/97, p.80)
1839-1840 The Liberals of the United Provinces of
Central America under leader Francisco Morazan were defeated in a
civil war led by Rafael Carrera. The confederation dissolved into
its 4 component states: El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa
(EWH, 1968, p.857)
1842 Francisco Morazan
(b.1799), Central American statesman and soldier, died. He served as
the president of the United Provinces of Central America.
(ON, 12/99, p.5)
1859 Roatan Island, 40 miles
off the mainland, was ceded to Honduras. The British had settled the
island with African slaves and the islanders speak English with a
Caribbean accent. It was controlled for a time by the pirate Henry
(SFEC, 5/4/97, p.T10)
1860 Sep 12, William Walker
(b.1824), conqueror of Nicaragua, was convicted and executed by the
government of Honduras. The British had arrested him and turned him
over to the government. In 2008 Stephen Dando-Collins authored
“Tycoon’s War: How Cornelius Vanderbilt Invaded a Country to
Overthrow America's Most Famous Military Adventurer."
1894 The town of Copan Ruinas
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.29)
1896 American writer William
Sydney Porter, aka O. Henry (1862-1910), authored his short story
“Cabbages and Kings," in which he coined the term “banana republic."
Porter wrote the story while in Trujillo, Honduras, where he had
fled to avoid embezzlement charges in Houston.
1907 Mar 21, US Marines arrived
in Honduras to protect American lives and interests in the wake of
(SFC, 9/30/99, p.E5)(AP, 3/21/07)
1911 Feb 8, US helped overthrow
President Miguel Devila of Honduras.
1919 Sep 11, US marines invaded
1922 Feb 11, US "intervention
army" left Honduras.
1924 Feb 28, U.S. troops were
sent to Honduras to protect American interests during an election
1924 Mar 19, U.S. troops were
rushed to Tegucigalpa as the Honduran capital was taken by rebel
1934 April, An earthquake shook
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.25)
1944 Carlos Roberto Reina
(d.2003), a teenage Liberal Party activist, was imprisoned for six
months for protesting against dictator Tiburcio Carias.
1954 A three month strike was
held by some 60,000 workers against the US-based United Fruit Co.
and other land holders. They won improved labor conditions and
influenced union movements throughout Latin America.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A22)
1957 In Honduras the military
ousted the civilian president.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)
1960 The Central American
Common Market was set up by a treaty between El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua, and later Costa Rica. It fell apart by the end
of the decade.
1962 The US Peace Corps began
operating in Honduras.
1963 In Honduras Col. Oswaldo
Lopez Arellano (1921-2010), with the backing of the military, ousted
civilian President Ramon Villeda Morales.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)(AP, 5/17/10)
1965 In Honduras Col. Oswaldo
Lopez Arellano held a constitutional assembly that formalized his
position as president of Honduras.
1969 Jun 27, Honduras and El
Salvador broke diplomatic relations due to soccer match. El Salvador
and Honduras fought a 4-day "Soccer War" when fans brought out
long-simmering tensions during World cup qualifying matches. Some
3,000 people died in the 4-day conflict.
1971 In Honduras Pres. Lopez
Arellano backed elections won by Ramon Ernesto Cruz of the National
1972 In Honduras the military
under Oswaldo Lopez Arellano again ousted civilian president Ramon
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)(AP, 5/17/10)
1974 Sep 19, Hurricane Fifi hit
the coast of Honduras; about 5,000 died. [see Sep 18]
1975 In Honduras Lopez Arellano
was ousted by the armed forces after dissident officers accused him
of receiving a $2.5 million bribe they said US banana company United
Brands offered to reduce a banana export tax.
1976 Feb 4, A 7-5-7.9
earthquake hit Guatemala and Honduras. Some 23,000 Guatemalans,
mostly Mayan Indians, were killed. It destroyed 58,000 houses in the
capital and 300 villages.
(NG, 6/1988, p.785,797)(SFEM, 6/13/99, p.8)(AP,
1980-1989 In Honduras death squads reportedly
killed 184 people over the decade. During the 1980s the US provided
training and support for Battalion 316, a Honduran military unit,
which had a history of kidnapping, murder and torture of suspected
leftists subversives. Washington gave Honduras $1.4 billion in aid.
By 2000 charges were put forth against 29 soldiers and officers, 8
of whom fled justice.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A3)(SFC,11/26/97, p.C5)(SFC,
1/15/98, p.A12)(SFC, 2/23/00, p.A14)
1981 Nov 29, Honduras held
presidential elections. A total of 1,214,735 Hondurans, 80.7 percent
of those registered, voted, giving the PLH a sweeping victory.
1982 Jan 11, Honduras approved
a new constitution, the 12th since independence in 1838. It was
amended by the National Congress 26 times from 1984 to 2005. 10
interpretations by Congress were made from 1982 to 2005.
1982 Jan 27, Civilian rule
resumed in Honduras.
1982 Dec 4, Guatemalan Pres.
Rios Montt met with US Pres. Ronald Reagan in Honduras. Reagan
dismissed reports of human rights abuses in the region and lifted an
arms embargo to resume sales to military rulers.
1982 In Honduras rebels, during
the height of conflict, kidnapped 104 businessmen and officials.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A22)
1983 Jun, James Carney (53) of
St. Louis, Jesuit priest-turned-guerrilla, traveled to Nicaragua,
where he joined leftist guerrillas. He was captured by soldiers in
September as he led a column of 100 rebels across the border into
Honduras. He was never heard from again. Suspected remains found in
early 2003 proved false.
1983 Jul 19, In Honduras Reyes
Mata, a Cuban-trained doctor and guerrilla leader, led a unit of 96
Nicaraguan-trained rebels and Rev. James F. Carney into the Olancho.
They were routed by the Honduran army. American CIA records,
disclosed in 1998, reported that Mata was tortured and executed by
the Honduran army.
1983 US forces built the
3,090-acre El Aguacate air base in Olancho province.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)
1986 Mar 25, President Ronald
Reagan ordered emergency aid for the Honduran army. U.S. helicopters
took Honduran troops to the Nicaraguan border.
1988 Mar 16, The US sent 3000
soldiers to Honduras.
1988 Mar 17, Planeloads of U.S.
soldiers arrived at Palmerola Air Base in Honduras in a show of
strength ordered by President Reagan.
1988 Apr 5, Honduran and US
authorities captured Juan Ramon Matta-Ballesteros (b.1945). He was
taken from Honduras by US marshals, triggering violent protests, the
burning of a US Embassy office and the deaths of five people. In
2011 a court issued warrants for the arrest of 11 former officials
accused of helping US authorities seize the drug trafficker.
1989 Aug 5, Five Central
American presidents began meeting in Honduras to discuss a timetable
for dismantling Nicaraguan Contra bases.
1990 Some 2,000 members of 7
leftist clandestine organizations accepted and amnesty.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A22)
1990-1994 Rafael Callejas served as president.
1990-1998 Death squads had killed 701 people over
(SFC, 1/15/98, p.A12)
1992 The Honduran government
was forced to revoke a 40-year forest concession it had granted to a
Chicago-based paper company, Stone Container, after thousands
of Hondurans marched in protest.
(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A10)
1993 Sep 9-1993 Sep 14,
Hurricane Gert caused 76 deaths. It affected Mexico, Honduras, Costa
Rica, and Nicaragua.
1993 Nov 28, Carlos Roberto
Reina (1926-2003) was elected president of Honduras with promises to
crack down on corruption and reduce the role of the military.
1994 Jan, Liberal Party leader
Carlos Roberto Reina took over as President and promised to
prosecute corruption and end military influence over civil society.
1996 July 20, A new sculpture
museum is scheduled to open in Copan National Park, Honduras, with
exhibits of Mayan work.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.25)
1996 May 29, A 15-year-old
Honduran girl spoke in Washington of sweatshop conditions under
South Korean owners in the production of clothing for the Kathie Lee
Gifford line for Wal-Mart. The National Labor Committee accused
marketers such as Eddie Bauer, J. Crew, and K-Mart of selling
clothes made by underage Honduran workers.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A5)
1996 Jun 19, A new mandated
manpower list revealed that the army is comprised of 12,115 troops,
including 12 generals and 2,013 officers. Soldiers in Honduras are
not allowed to vote.
(SFC, 6/20/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 7, The attorney
general accused the army of spying on thousands of public officials,
judges, politicians and journalists.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.C1)
1996 Some 4,000 Garifuna
marched on Tegucigalpa to demand property rights.
(SFEC, 5/4/97, p.T11)
1997 Jan 7, Chagas disease, a
parasitical illness, has infected an estimated 300,000 out of a
population of 5.8 mil. Some 65,000 were in the late stages.
(SFC, 1/7/97, p.A9)
1997 Apr 12, Candido Amador, a
Chorti tribal leader, was shot to death near the ruins of Copan
after a meeting with local landowners. He had demanded that the
government turn over 35,000 acres of land that was promised to the
indigenous peoples in an agreement with the Spanish colonial
government in the 18th century. Another leader, Ovidio Perez, was
gunned down less than a month later.
(SFC, 9/30/97, p.A13)
1997 Apr, In San Pedro Sula,
Honduras, Santos Padilla and his four brothers kidnapped 25-year-old
Ricardo Maduro Andreu as he left his home. The kidnappers opened
fire on a vehicle carrying Maduro Andreu and his bodyguard, Henry
Rivas. Rivas was killed and the gang grabbed a wounded Maduro
Andreu, whose lifeless body was discovered a short time later.
Maduro Andreu's father, Ricardo Maduro, was elected president of
Honduras in 2002. Three of the Padilla brothers were killed in May
1998 during a shootout with police in Tegucigalpa. The fourth died a
year later in another gunbattle with authorities.
1997 Jul 2, US Aid to Honduras
had dropped to $28 million from a high of $229 million in 1985. The
country had the highest AIDS rate in Central America.
(WSJ, 7/2/97, p.A1)
1997 Aug 11, Some 700 inmates
escaped from prisons at Santa Barbara and Trujillo after rioting
prisoners set fire to facilities and burned them to the ground.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A9)
1997 Aug 19, Lawmakers voted to
name Archbishop Oscar Andres Rodriguez to oversee the creation of a
new civilian police force.
(SFC, 8/21/97, p.A13)
1997 Aug 24, A power outage at
a state-run hospital resulted in the death of 14 patients. The
Sunday blackout was not reported until Monday.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.C3)
1997 Aug 27, A secret CIA
report acknowledged that the CIA knew of human rights abuses by the
Honduran military in the 1980s. It was declassified in 1998.
(SFC, 10/24/98, p.A3)
1997 Nov 30, Carlos Flores
Facusse (47), a newspaper owner, appeared to have won the
presidential elections. He defeated Nora Gunera de Melgar of the
National Party, the widow of a former military president.
(SFC, 12/1/97, p.A12)
1998 Jul 12, Honduras,
Guatemala and El Salvador agreed to join forces to build a $2
billion railroad network to link Central America with Mexico.
(SFC, 7/13/98, p.A8)
1998 Sep 23, Transparency
Int’l, an int’l. good-government advocacy group, said that Cameroon
is viewed as the most corrupt of the 85 countries rated. Nigeria,
Tanzania, Honduras and Paraguay filled out the bottom five. Denmark,
Finland and Sweden were seen as having the cleanest political
(WSJ, 9/23/98, p.B17)
1998 Oct 22-1998 Nov 9,
Hurricane Mitch was one of the Caribbean's deadliest storms ever
causing at least at least 9,000 deaths in Central America. The storm
hit Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama,
Jamaica, and Costa Rica. Later reports put the death toll in
Honduras to 6,076. In Nicaragua the deaths reached 4,000, in
Guatemala it was157, and in El Salvador it was 222. The storm parked
over Honduras and rain poured for 6 days straight. Aid of $66
mil was ordered from the US, $8 mil from the EU, $11.6 mil from
Spain along with pledges from other countries and private
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A9)(SFC, 11/6/98, p.A14)(AP,
1998 Oct 31-Nov1, Hurricane
Mitch caused a major mud slide in Nicaragua when the Casita Volcano
crater lake overflowed. The death toll was estimated in the
thousands. In Honduras Mayor Cesar Castellanos of Tegucigalpa and 3
others were killed in a helicopter crash while surveying the flood
damage where hundreds were estimated killed.
(SFC, 11/2/98, p.A1,17)
1998 Dec 1, The death toll from
Hurricane Mitch was lowered to 5,657. Some 8,058 were verified as
missing, 12,272 injured and 1.4 million homeless.
(SFC, 12/2/98, p.C12)
1998 Dec 4, Honduras declared a
national alert because of epidemics. 20,000 people were reported to
have cholera and 31,000 suffered from malaria. Diarrhea was
affecting some 208,000.
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A10)
1999 Jan 26, In Honduras the
legislature voted to end 41 years of military autonomy and to put
the military under civilian control.
(SFC, 1/27/99, p.C10)
1999 Feb 16, The 240-foot Juan
Ramon Molina bridge in Tegucigalpa was rebuilt with help from US
Marines and $800,000 from the World Bank.
(SFC, 3/10/99, p.A12)
1999 Mar 9, Pres. Clinton
visited Honduras and paid tribute to US military efforts in
rebuilding roads, bridges, schools and clinics following Hurricane
(SFC, 3/10/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 19, One of the annual
Goldman Environmental Prizes went to: Jorge Varela, a Honduran
conservationist, for fighting the destructive shrimp farming
practices in the Gulf of Fonseca.
(SFC, 4/19/99, p.A2)
1999 Jul, Pres. Facusse fired 4
top military officials in an attempt to quell a power struggle and
denied media reports of an attempted coup.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)
1999 Aug 8, In Honduras the
government began investigating the El Aguacate air base where human
remains had been discovered 4 days earlier. The site was a former
training base for Nicaraguan Contras.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A8)
1999 Sep 24, Two weeks of
torrential rain left 6 people dead and flood gates were opened to
save the El Cajon dam.
(SFEC, 9/26/99, p.A21)
1999 Sep 29, Flooding from
weeks of hard rain was reported to have left 13 dead along with
extensive crop damage.
(WSJ, 9/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 3, Flooding in Central
America left 21 dead in Honduras, 10 dead in Nicaragua, and 11 dead
in El Salvador and thousands were forced to flee their homes.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A13)
1999 Nicaragua filed the border
case against Honduras, saying international law gave it the right to
"explore and exploit" natural resources, including possible oil
reserves and fish stocks within a zone 200 miles from its coast.
Honduras claimed that a ruling by the Spanish king in 1906 set a
boundary projecting eastward along the 15th parallel from the mouth
of the Coco River. The UN resolved the dispute in 2007.
2000 Feb 23, The government
announced that it would pay $2.1 million to the families of 19 of
184 political activists kidnapped and killed by death squads in the
(SFC, 2/24/00, p.A14)
2000 May 11, Mexico reached a
free-trade agreement with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
(SFC, 5/12/00, p.D2)
2000 Jul 10, Honduras qualified
for debt relief and was expected to save over $556 million in debt
service under a program of the world Bank and the IMF.
(SFC, 7/11/00, p.A10)
2000 Aug 24, It was reported
that 13 street kids had been killed over the last 7 months.
(SFC, 8/24/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 5, In Honduras
protestors from the Chorti tribe began blocking Copan Archeological
Park and demanded land to farm. Police removed some 900 protestors
on Sep 7 and at least 17 people were injured.
(SFC, 9/9/00, p.A12)
2001 Aug 17, It was reported
that police and private security forces in Honduras had killed at
least 66 children this year.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.A14)
2001 Aug 18, It was reported
that a month-long drought ravaged Central America. Honduras lost 80%
of its basic grains, El Salvador lost 80% of grains in its eastern
provinces, Nicaragua lost 50% and Guatemala lost 80% of its beans in
the eastern provinces. Hundreds of thousands of peasants were
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 30, A 5th day of rain
on Caribbean coast force 25,000 people from their homes in Honduras.
4 people were reported killed.
(SFC, 10/31/01, p.C2)(SFC, 11/1/01, p.C7)
2001 Nov 25, In Pres. elections
Ricardo Maduro (50) led polls over Rafael Pineda of the governing
Liberal Party. Early returns showed Maduro with a 52% lead.
(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.A18)(SFC, 11/26/01, p.A12)
2001 Dec, In Honduras a team of
officers, reportedly under orders from regional police chief Juan
Carlos Bonilla Valladares, tracked down and killed Angel Maria
Romero, the suspected leader of a kidnapping gang.
2001 In Honduras former Economy
Minister Reginaldo Panting was found dead after his family paid a
ransom of $125,000.
2002 Jan 26, Congress elected
Justice Vilma Cecilia Morales as the 1st woman to head the Supreme
(SSFC, 1/27/02, p.A19)
2002 Jan 27, Honduras restored
diplomatic ties with Cuba just before Ricardo Maduro took office.
(WSJ, 1/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 9, In Honduras police
broke up a drug-smuggling, kidnapping and bank robbery ring in
Lempira. It was an arm of cartels based in Tijuana.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A14)
2002 Jun 6, Honduras Jorge Luis
Caceres was killed. He had been picked up for questioning by men in
ski masks and was found riddled with 36 gunshots the next day. Local
police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares was reportedly at the
scene of the abduction.
2002 Apr 25, Lisa “Left Eye"
Lopes (31), top female singer in the trio TLC, was killed in a car
crash in Honduras.
(SFC, 4/26/02, p.A2)
2002 Aug 26, In San Antonio,
Honduras, Jose Callejas (46), director of a Human Rights Committee,
was killed. Organized crime was blamed.
(SFC, 8/29/02, p.A12)
2002 Dec 11, A US Black Hawk
helicopter on routine training crashed and killed five American
soldiers in the hills of central Honduras.
(AP, 12/14/02)(SFC, 12/13/02, p.A14)
2003 Jan 20-27, In Honduras a
drastic drop in oxygen in rivers and ponds may have killed 5.5
million fish near the El Cahon hydroelectric plant.
2003 Apr 5, A prison riot in
northern Honduras left 86 prisoners dead and dozens more injured at
the 1,600-inmate El Porvenir prison outside of La Ceiba. Soldiers
and police searched for escaped inmates. Honduras' 26 prisons were
built to house 5,500 inmates but are crammed with 13,000 prisoners.
In 2008 a court sentenced 22 soldiers and police to a combined 740
years in prison for the massacre. In 2008 a Honduran court sentenced
Dimas Antonio Benitez, a former prison official, to 1,051 years in
jail for the deaths in the prison massacre.
(AP, 4/6/03)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.A8)(AP, 6/4/08)(AP,
2003 Apr 12, In San Pedro Sula,
northern Honduras, gunmen opened fire on a restaurant killing 11
people and wounding 7 others in what police said appeared to be a
dispute between rival drug gangs.
2003 May 8, In Honduras 2
gunmen with automatic weapons fatally shot Arnulfo Gutierrez (62),
an honorary Belgian consul as he drove his car in San Pedro Sula.
His wife was kidnapped March 18 as she left a San Pedro Sula beauty
2003 May, Police in
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, found the dismembered body of Martha Isabel
Moncada (28) in 2 suitcases. In 2007 Andrew Gole (49) of Long
Island, NY, was sentenced to 38 years in prison for killing and
dismembering his Honduran wife.
2003 Aug 4, In Honduras 9
members of a family were shot to death by suspected gang that raided
their home in San Pedro Sula.
2003 Aug 19, Carlos Roberto
Reina (77), a former political prisoner who rose to Honduras'
presidency (1993), died at his home in Tegucigalpa. After his
presidential term, he was a judge of the Interamerican Court of
Human Rights and an ambassador to France.
2003 Aug, Honduras passed an
anti-gang law. Gang leaders faced 9-12 years in prison.
(SSFC, 9/28/03, p.A8)
2003 Oct 14, Across Honduras
thousands of protesters blocked streets and burned tires to demand
the government not renew a debt-payment agreement with the IMF.
2003 Nov 30, A 3rd day of
storms in Honduras left at least 3 people dead.
(SFC, 12/1/03, p.A3)
2003 Dec 17, The Bush
administration reached a free-trade deal with El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua for immediate duty-free access to
half of all US farm exports and 80% of consumer goods.
(WSJ, 12/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 21, In Honduras crowds
at a Christmas toy giveaway at National Stadium surged out of
control, and a 7-year-old girl was killed and about 80 other people
were injured. Television station, Compania Televisora, has run the
charity giveaway for eight years, and many businesses contributed
toys to the event.
2004 Feb 21, in northern
Honduras the disfigured body of a young man was found along with a
message threatening the Honduran president. The discovery marks the
10th such slaying apparently carried about by gangs protesting a
2004 Apr 19, Honduras President
Ricardo Maduro announced the pullout of his 370 troops from Iraq "in
the shortest time possible."
(AP, 4/20/04)(WSJ, 4/20/04, p.A1)
2004 May 17, In northern
Honduras authorities said a short-circuit caused a fire that killed
103 inmates before dawn. Survivors of the fire claimed that the
inferno was intentionally set by fellow inmates. The prison at San
Pedro Sula, designed for 800, was crammed with 2,200.
(AP, 5/18/04)(SFC, 5/18/04, p.A8)(Econ, 5/22/04,
2004 May 28, US officials and 5
Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua) signed a free trade pact (CAFTA), to be
later approved by Congress. The Dominican Republic would be included
(SFC, 5/29/04, p.A4)
2004 Jul 20, President Ricardo
Maduro said he is sending troops to help police quell a clash
between loggers and environmentalists in south-central Honduras.
2004 Nov 29, More than a dozen
people hunting rabbits being smoked out of a Honduran sugarcane
field were engulfed by the fast-moving flames. Eleven children and
four adults died.
2004 Dec 23, In Honduras
assailants claiming to be members of a revolutionary group opposed
to the death penalty ambushed a bus filled with people bringing home
Christmas gifts and killed at least 28 people, including six
children, in an escalation of the battle between gangs and the
government. On Feb 10, 2005, US Border patrol officials arrested a
Honduran gang leader wanted in the massacre. In 2007 a three-judge
tribunal found two members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang guilty of
killing 28 people in the shooting attack, and acquitted two other
men. In 2008 Juan Carlos Miranda (22) and Darwin Alexis Ramirez (23)
were accused of being among about 10 gang members. They received
sentences totaling 822 years each.
(AP, 12/24/04)(WSJ, 2/25/05, p.A1)(AP,
2004 Dec 27, Honduras' security
minister pledged to eliminate violent youth gangs, nine of whose
members have been charged with homicide in connection with a Dec. 23
shooting attack on a public bus that killed 28 people.
2005 Jan 3, Honduras Pres.
Ricardo Maduro said that police have arrested the alleged mastermind
of an attack on a public bus that left 28 passengers dead two weeks
ago. The suspect was identified as Juan Carlos Miralda, 24, one of
the leaders of the violent Mara Salvatrucha criminal gang.
2005 Mar 3, The seven Central
American nations (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) agreed to create a rapid-response
force to combat drug trafficking, terrorism and other regional
2005 Apr 18, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prizes were awarded in San Francisco. Recipients
included Rev. Jose Andres Tamayo Cortes of Honduras for his leading
efforts in fighting unregulated logging.
(SFC, 4/18/05, p.B2)
2005 Jun 26, Heavy rains caused
flooding and landslides in El Salvador and Honduras, leaving a total
of 39 dead in both countries, including 21 people killed when a bus
was carried away by flood waters.
2005 Jun 30, In Honduras
Central American leaders agreed to create a regional special forces
unit to fight drug trafficking, gang violence and terrorism within
their borders. The 2-day regional meeting included the presidents of
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico,
Nicaragua, and Panama.
2005 Jul 10, Vidal Cerrato
(63), a former vice president of Honduras (1998-2001) and a
representative of the Central American Parliament, died.
2005 Jul 29, In Honduras
Timothy Markey, a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent, was shot
and killed in an apparent robbery attempt at a Roman Catholic shrine
2005 Jul 31, A Honduran
official said police had arrested Erlan Colindres, a 13-year-old
gang member, and Manuel Romero, his teenaged bodyguard, for the July
29 killing of Timothy Markey, a US Drug Enforcement Administration
agent, during an apparent bungled robbery.
2005 Sep 6, Dominican Republic
legislators overwhelmingly approved a free-trade agreement with the
US and five Central American countries, rejecting arguments that the
pact would devastate the domestic sugar industry. The other five
countries are Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and
Nicaragua. Costa Rica and Nicaragua had not yet ratified the pact.
2005 Sep 8, El Salvador said
that “Operation International" simultaneous raids this week in El
Salvador, the US, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico netted 660
dangerous gang members.
2005 Oct 5, Hurricane Stan
knocked down trees, ripped roofs off homes and washed out bridges in
southeastern Mexico, but it was the storms it helped spawn that were
far more destructive, killing more than 65 people in Central
America. Officials in El Salvador said 49 people had been killed,
mostly due to two days of mudslides sparked by rains. 9 people died
in Nicaragua, including six migrants believed to be Ecuadorians
killed in a boat accident. Four deaths were reported in Honduras,
three in Guatemala and one in Costa Rica.
2005 Oct 24, Jose Azcona Hoyo
(78), the former president of Honduras (1986-1990), died of a heart
attack. He oversaw the start of the dismantling of bases for
U.S.-backed Nicaraguan rebels in his country.
2005 Nov 3, The Environmental
Investigation Agency, a London-based environmental watchdog said US
businesses are unwittingly importing illegal Honduran wood,
contributing to deforestation, corruption and social strife in the
Latin American country.
2005 Nov 18, In Honduras Herlan
Colindres (16), a street gang member implicated in 17 killings
including a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, escaped from
a juvenile prison for the fifth time in three years, just as he
2005 Nov 20, Tropical Storm
Gamma weakened into a tropical depression after it deluged the
Central American coast, killing 14 people in Honduras and Belize. 2
US newlyweds were among the dead in Belize.
(AP, 11/20/05)(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 22, In Honduras
officials raised the death toll from a tropical storm that hit over
the weekend to 32 with 13 people missing.
2005 Nov 27, Hondurans voted
for president with Porfiro Lobo, a hard-line death penalty proponent
of the ruling National Party, favored over Manuel Zelaya, the
Liberal Party candidate. Opposition candidate Mel Zelaya, who vowed
to reinvigorate the economy by eliminating government corruption,
was elected as the country's new president.
(WSJ, 11/26/05, p.A1)(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 27, Honduran police
recaptured Herlan Colindres (16), who is accused of killing Timothy
Markey, a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent on July 29 this
year. It was Colindres’ second escape in less than four months and
the fifth in three years.
2005 Dec 2, Honduras' ruling
party said it had enlisted 300 lawyers to check results of the
country's disputed presidential election for evidence of fraud.
Officials still hadn't declared Honduras' new president, five days
after the country's contentious election.
(AP, 12/02/05)(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 7, Honduras'
ruling-party candidate for president conceded defeat, even though
official results were still unavailable 10 days after the election
because of vote-counting delays.
2005 Dec 23, In Honduras,
official results confirmed that opposition candidate Manuel Zelaya
won the presidency in November elections.
2006 Jan 5, A shootout between
inmates at Honduras' biggest prison left at least 13 inmates dead
and another 30 wounded.
2006 Jan 27, In Honduras Manuel
Zelaya was inaugurated as the new president. He promised to fight
corruption and help criminal and gang members become useful
2006 Feb 2, Honduras numbered
24 state prisons, but only one, the National Penitentiary, was
actually built to house inmates. Prison facilities built for 6,000
prisoners housed 13,000.
2006 Mar 16, In northern
Honduras a speeding bus crashed into a small van carrying a group of
US soldiers, killing two and injuring one.
2006 Jun 6, Santos Padilla
(40), a leader of a violent kidnapping gang that abducted and killed
the son of a former Honduran president in 1997, was among four
inmates who escaped from a prison outside Tegucigalpa.
2006 Jun 29, Honduras officials
said floods caused by heavy rains have left four people dead, forced
1,500 others from their homes and caused more than $8 million in
damage to croplands.
2006 Jul 10, In Honduras a bus
with failing brakes slammed into the back of another bus on the
outskirts of Tegucigalpa, killing 15 people and injuring more than
2006 Jul 11, Central American
presidents agreed on a plan to ease border controls and install a
common customs system on the way to negotiating an eventual
free-trade agreement with the EU. The agreement signed by Panama,
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Belize
would allow residents to cross borders without passports or visas.
2006 Jul 15, A Honduras
newspaper quoted a senior military official that the United States
is helping Honduras establish a new military base to combat
international drug trafficking in the northeastern province of
Gracias a Dios.
2006 Oct 5, In Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, a fire raged through a building housing abused women and
their families, killing three adults and six children.
2006 Oct 17, In eastern
Honduras a military truck plunged off a cliff, killing five soldiers
and injuring 12.
2007 Jan 12, An American man
dubbed by local media the "butcher of New York" was sentenced to 38
years in prison for killing and dismembering his Honduran wife.
Andrew Gole (49) of Long Island, NY, confessed to strangling and
cutting up his wife, Martha Isabel Moncada (28) with an electric saw
in May 2003.
2007 Jan 17, In Honduras a
concrete wall collapsed at a coffee warehouse in Villanueva,
crushing six workers under tons of bagged coffee beans.
2007 Feb 6, In Honduras 3
Americans on a charity mission were killed and 17 other people were
injured in a traffic accident.
2007 Feb 28, Honduras named its
first ambassador to Cuba in 45 years, completing the restoration of
diplomatic ties with communist-run island that were severed during
the Cold War.
2007 Mar 16, The Inter-American
Development Bank announced it would forgive $4.4 billion in debt
owed by five of the poorest countries in Latin America and the
Caribbean. The bank excused the foreign debts of Bolivia, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Haiti and Guyana in an announcement ahead of its annual
2007 Sep 4, Hurricane Felix
roared ashore as a fearsome Category 5 storm, the first time in
recorded history that two top-scale storms have made landfall in the
same season. The storm hit near the swampy Nicaragua-Honduras
border, home to thousands of stranded Miskito Indians dependent on
canoes to make their way to safety. Some 332 people left dead or
(AP, 9/4/07)(Econ, 11/10/07, p.45)
2007 Oct 8, The UN's highest
court in the Hague granted Honduras sovereignty over four Caribbean
islands in its decades-old dispute with Nicaragua, and carved up
rich fishing grounds and offshore exploration concessions for oil
and gas. Nicaragua filed the case in 1999, saying international law
gave it the right to "explore and exploit" natural resources,
including possible oil reserves and fish stocks within a zone 200
miles from its coast. Honduras claimed that a ruling by the Spanish
king in 1906 set a boundary projecting eastward along the 15th
parallel from the mouth of the Coco River.
2007 Oct 13, In Honduras 3
children and a woman were killed when their boat capsized, raising
to 21 the death toll from days of torrential rains that have driven
thousands from their homes across Central America.
2008 Mar 2, In northern
Honduras 8 people were shot dead at a billiards hall by gunmen
disguised as policemen in San Pedro Sula, a city plagued by violent
gangs and drug traffickers. Honduras last month began a nationwide
effort to halt a rising wave of violence and stem the flow of guns
on the street.
2008 Mar 25, In western
Honduras a passenger bus plunged off a highway and rolled 500 yards
down a hillside, killing 26 people and injuring at least 19.
2008 Apr 24, In Honduras gunmen
ambushed and killed Altagracia Fuentes (60), the leader of Honduras'
largest workers federation and two traveling companions.
2008 May 2, In Honduras 31
prisoners were attacked by their cellmates with knives and guns just
hours after they were transferred to a prison in Tegucigalpa from
San Pedro Sula. At least 18 inmates died in the attack.
2008 May 30, In Honduras a
Grupo Taca Airbus A320 overshot a runway and raced onto a busy
street in Tegucigalpa, killing the pilot, two passengers and a
motorist on the ground. At least 65 people were injured.
2008 May 31, President Manuel
Zelaya said that Honduras would create a civilian airport for
commercial jets on a US military airfield, diverting traffic from
Tegucigalpa's notoriously dangerous airport following a deadly
2008 Jun 3, Belize PM Dean
Barrow declared a disaster area in southern Stann Creek Valley as
flash flooding carried away houses and ripped a child from his
father's grasp. Falling trees killed two people in Honduras, raising
the death toll from Central America's twin tropical storms this week
to at least nine.
2008 Aug 3, Hundreds of
Honduran squatters angry over a land dispute attacked the home of
Henry Sorto, a local police official. Five employees and six of
Osorto's family members were burned, shot and hacked to death with
(AP, 8/4/08)(AP, 8/5/08)
2008 Aug 25, Honduran Pres.
Manuel Zelaya signed adherence to the Bolivarian Alternative of the
Americas (ALBA), a trade alliance created in 2004 by Venezuela and
Cuba as a regional alternative to trade agreements with the US.
(WSJ, 8/27/08, p.A9)
2008 Sep 16, Honduras said it
will welcome a new US ambassador after a one-week delay meant to
show support for Bolivia in its diplomatic spat with Washington.
2008 Oct 20, Officials in
Honduras said a week of heavy rains has caused landslides and
flooding that have killed at least 11 people and left two others
2008 Oct 24, Officials in
Honduras said at least 29 people are dead and 14 others are missing
because of heavy rains that began 2 weeks ago.
2009 Feb 25, A UN survey said
homicides in Honduras had more than doubled from 2,155 in 2004 to
4,473 in 2008.
(SSFC, 3/1/09, p.A4)
2009 Mar 10, In northern
Honduras a plane from Venezuela that was carrying more than 2 tons
of cocaine crashed, killing the pilot. 2 US Drug Enforcement
Administration helicopters were allegedly pursuing the aircraft when
it went down near El Negrito town.
2009 Mar 23, Honduran President
Manuel Zelaya announced his government will hold a nationwide poll
by June 24 on whether the country should convoke an assembly that
would write a new constitution.
2009 Mar 31, In Honduras
assailants stopped journalist Rafael Munguia (36) as he was driving
night in the city of San Pedro Sula, dragged him from his vehicle
and shot him at least eight times. Munguia had recently been
reporting on the country's violent crime wave.
2009 Apr 1, Honduras Pres.
Manuel Zelaya's government announced a series of measures to crack
down on crime, including allowing the state telephone company to
obtain court orders to record cellular phone conversations and read
e-mails sent from computers at Internet cafes or hotels.
2009 May 10, A small plane
filled with cocaine crashed in Honduras. The plane registered in
Venezuela was carrying around 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms) of
cocaine when it crashed on Utila, one of the Bay Islands off the
country's northern coast.
2009 May 28, In Belize and
Honduras a magnitude 7.1 earthquake collapsed more than two dozen
homes, killing at least 6 people and injuring 40 others as terrified
people ran into the streets in towns across much of Central America.
2009 Jun 3, The Organization of
American States (OAS), meeting in Honduras, cleared the way for
Cuba's possible return to the group by lifting a 1962 ban on the
communist-run country, a move backed by Washington despite initial
2009 Jun 25, Honduras Pres.
Manuel Zelaya said he would ignore a Supreme Court ruling ordering
him to reinstate a military chief he fired.
(SFC, 6/26/09, p.A2)
2009 Jun 26, In Honduras
leftist President Manuel Zelaya pushed ahead with a June 27
referendum on revamping the constitution, risking his rule in a
standoff against Congress, the Supreme Court and the military.
2009 Jun 28, In Honduras more
than a dozen soldiers arrested President Manuel Zelaya and disarmed
his security guards after surrounding his residence before dawn.
Protesters called it a coup and flocked to the presidential palace
as local news media reported that Zelaya was sent into exile in
Costa Rica. He was detained shortly before voting was to begin on a
constitutional referendum the president had insisted on holding even
though the Supreme Court ruled it illegal and everyone from the
military to Congress and members of his own party opposed it. The
nonbinding referendum was to ask voters if they want to hold a vote
during the November presidential election on whether to convoke an
assembly to rewrite the constitution. Roberto Micheletti, the leader
of Congress, was sworn in to serve until Zelaya's term ends. This
was the first military ouster of a Central American president since
1993, when Guatemalan military officials refused to accept President
Jorge Serrano's attempt to seize absolute power.
(AP, 6/28/09)(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, Presidents from
around Latin America gathered in Nicaragua for meetings on how to
resolve the coup in Honduras, the fist in Central America in at
least 16 years, while the European Union offered to help start talks
between the two sides. Security forces used tear gas and rubber
bullets to scatter protesters, who hurled rocks and bottles as they
retreated. At least 38 protesters were detained. Zelaya said that
Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel
Insulza had agreed to accompany him back to Honduras.
2009 Jun 30, The UN adopted a
resolution calling on all 192 UN member states not to recognize any
government in Honduras other than Zelaya's. Roberto Micheletti,
Honduras' interim leader, warned that the only way his predecessor
will return to office is through a foreign invasion. The regime that
ousted Zelaya claimed that the deposed president allowed money and
tons of cocaine to be flown into the Central American country on its
way to the US.
2009 Jul 1, In Honduras
thousands demonstrated for the return of ousted Pres. Manuel Zelaya.
Thousands more rallied in favor of the military-backed government.
The Organization of American States said Honduran coup leaders have
three days to restore deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power,
before Honduras risks being suspended from the group.
(AP, 6/30/09)(SFC, 7/2/09, p.A3)
2009 Jul 3, In Honduras Roberto
Micheletti said new elections would be held on Nov. 29, as
some200,000 demonstrated both for and against the return of Pres.
(SSFC, 7/5/09, p.A3)
2009 Jul 4, The OAS suspended
Honduras participation in the organization because of last week's
2009 Jul 5, Honduras' ousted
President Manuel Zelaya said he was getting on a flight home to
reclaim his post, accompanied by the UN General Assembly president
and a group of journalists. The interim government said it ordered
the military to prevent the landing of Zelaya's plane. Soldiers
clashed with thousands of Zelaya backers massed at the airport in
hopes of welcoming home the deposed leader removed a week earlier.
Isis Obed Murillo Mencia (19) was killed by soldiers as a crowd
tried to break through an airport fence. Pilots of the plane loaned
by Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez circled the airport and decided not
to risk a crash.
(AP, 7/5/09)(AP, 7/6/09)(SFC, 7/7/09, p.A3)
2009 Jul 6, Honduras' interim
government closed its main airport to all flights after blocking the
runway to prevent the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
2009 Jul 12, Hondurans enjoyed
their first night of unfettered freedom in two weeks after the
interim government lifted a curfew imposed following the ouster of
President Manuel Zelaya.
2009 Jul 15, Honduras' interim
government suggested that backers of ousted President Manuel Zelaya
were taking up arms to return him to power and it reinstated an
overnight curfew it had lifted only days earlier.
2009 Jul 21, Honduras’s interim
government ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave the country in 72
hours as the int’l. community threatened new sanctions if
negotiations fail the resolve the overthrow of Pres. Manuel Zelaya.
(SFC, 7/22/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 24, Ousted Honduras
President Manuel Zelaya stood on the edge of his country and called
on his fellow Hondurans to resist the coup-installed government. He
then quickly retreated back to Nicaraguan territory, saying he
wanted to avoid bloodshed and give negotiations another try.
2009 Jul 28, The US government
turned up the pressure on the interim government of Honduras to
accept the return of exiled President Manuel Zelaya, suspending the
diplomatic visas of four Honduran officials a month after a military
2009 Jul 30, In Honduras Roger
Vallejo (38), a high school teacher in the capital of Tegucigalpa,
was wounded as thousands of Zelaya supporters blocked a highway and
clashed with security forces. Vallejo died of his wounds on Aug 1.
2009 Aug 11, In Honduras some
10,000 protesters arrived in Tegucigalpa after staging weeklong
walks across Honduras, producing one of the largest demonstrations
in support of Zelaya since he was ousted by the army June 28 and
flown out of the country.
2009 Aug 12, In Honduras
supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya clashed with police in
Tegucigalpa and some of them attacked the second-ranking member of
2009 Aug 14, In Honduras 2
dozen supporters of ousted Pres. Zelaya were charged with sedition
in an intensifying crackdown on protests against the coup-installed
2009 Aug 19, Rights group
Amnesty International alleged widespread abuse of protesters
demanding the return of the Honduran president ousted in a coup,
saying in a report that hundreds of people have been beaten and
detained under the interim government.
2009 Aug 24, In Honduras
foreign ministers from seven OAS nations launched a direct,
high-profile attempt to persuade the interim government to restore
ousted Pres. Manuel Zelaya. The delegation failed to win a pledge to
restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
(AP, 8/24/09)(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Aug 26, Central America's
development bank said it is freezing credits to Honduras following
the June 28 coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Many other
multilateral agencies and foreign governments have put Honduras aid
projects on hold, in the face of the interim government's refusal to
2009 Aug 27, In Honduras a plan
was made public in which the interim leader offered to resign and
back exiled President Manuel Zelaya's return home, provided the
ousted leader gives up his claim to the presidency.
2009 Sep 3, Washington cut off
millions of dollars in aid to Honduras. Interim Pres. Roberto
Micheletti vowed that ousted Pres. Zelaya would not return to power
despite increasing international pressure.
2009 Sep 4, Thousands of
opponents of Hugo Chavez marched against the Venezuelan president
across Latin America, accusing him of everything from
authoritarianism to international meddling. The protests,
coordinated through Twitter and Facebook, drew more than 5,000
people in Bogota, and thousands more in the capitals of Venezuela
and Honduras. Smaller demonstrations were held in other Latin
American capitals, as well as New York and Madrid.
2009 Sep 21, In Honduras
deposed President Manuel Zelaya sneaked back into the country and
holed up at the Brazilian embassy to avoid threatened arrest.
2009 Sep 22, In Honduras
baton-wielding police fired tear gas at thousands of demonstrators,
chasing them away from the Brazilian embassy where deposed President
Manuel Zelaya, who a day earlier had sneaked back into the country,
remains holed up, avoiding threatened arrest.
2009 Sep 23, Honduras' interim
government extended an already long curfew after police skirmished
with backers of ousted President Manuel Zelaya throughout the night
and arrested more than 100 people for vandalism and looting. The
curfew was lifted for 6 hours to allow businesses to reopen and
people to restock supplies.
(AP, 9/23/09)(SFC, 9/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Sep 24, In Honduras the
national curfew was lifted, but hundreds of troops and police
continued to ring the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where an
increasingly exhausted President Manuel Zelaya, his family and about
70 supporters, have been sheltered since he sneaked back into
Honduras on Sep 21.
2009 Sep 28, Honduras'
coup-installed government silenced two key dissident broadcasters
hours after it suspended civil liberties to prevent an uprising by
backers of ousted Pres. Manuel Zelaya. The measures were announced
just hours after Zelaya called on his backers to stage mass protest
marches in what he called a "final offensive" against the
government. Interim president Roberto Micheletti promised to restore
civil liberties and allow an Organization of American States
mediation team into the country, quickly backpedalling from tough
measures amid criticism from his own allies that he had gone too far
in his fight to stay in power.
(AP, 9/28/09)(AP, 9/29/09)
soldiers and police enforced an emergency decree suspending civil
liberties despite promises by the coup-imposed government to lift
the measures criticized by its own allies as going too far.
2009 Oct 5, Honduras interim
President Roberto Micheletti said an emergency decree that
prohibited large street protests and limited other civil liberties
following the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya "has
been completely revoked."
2009 Oct 10, Honduras' interim
leaders put in place new rules that threatened broadcasters with
closure for airing reports that "attack national security," further
restricting media freedom following the closure of two opposition
2009 Oct 17, In Honduras ousted
President Manuel Zelaya said negotiations over the coup are in
"suspense" after the rival factions rebuffed each other's proposals
and his foreign minister called the internationally brokered talks a
2009 Oct 20, The Honduras
government lifted a three-week broadcast ban allowing opposition
radio and television stations back on the air.
2009 Oct 23, In Honduras a
negotiator for ousted leftist President Manuel Zelaya said the
latest round of talks to resolve the dispute over the June 28 coup
has ended in failure, adding that further talks were unlikely.
Escaped inmates in Santa Barbara set fire to a prison, a public
market and a cultural center before authorities stopped the riot and
captured 76 of the 79 fugitives.
2009 Oct 25, In Honduras the
body of Enzo Micheletti, the nephew of interim Honduran President
Roberto Micheletti, was found in Choloma. He had been shot to death
execution-style. The body of another, unidentified man was found
nearby. Gunmen killed army Col. Concepcion Jimenez outside his home
in Tegucigalpa. Honduras was noted for the highest homicide rate in
Central America, much of it related to drugs.
2009 Oct 29, Honduras filed a
case at the UN's highest court accusing Brazil of meddling in
internal Honduran affairs by allowing ousted President Manuel Zelaya
to stay at its embassy in Tegucigalpa since Sep 21. Representatives
of Zelaya finally reached an agreement with the interim government
that could help end the months long dispute over the June 28 coup,
and possibly pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement. The agreement
would create a power-sharing government and bind both sides to
recognize the Nov. 29 presidential elections.
(AP, 10/29/09)(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Honduras interim
President Roberto Micheletti and ousted Pres. Manuel Zelaya singed
the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord. The power-sharing agreement
required Mr. Zelaya to drop his plan for a referendum on
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.37)
2009 Nov 1, In Honduras the US
secretary of labor, Hilda Solis, and a former Chilean president,
Ricardo Lagos, were named to a commission tasked with monitoring the
creation of a power-sharing government, under a US-brokered
agreement to end the nation's 4-month-old political crisis.
2009 Nov 6, Ousted Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya said that a US-brokered pact failed to end a
four-month political crisis after a deadline for forming a unity
2009 Nov 12, In Honduras
assailants fired an anti-tank grenade toward the building housing
ballots for the upcoming Nov 29 Honduran presidential elections,
which are taking place under the shadow of a four-month crisis
caused by a coup. The grenade overshot its target.
2009 Nov 29, Honduras held
elections. Porfirio Lobo and Elvin Santos, two prosperous
businessmen from the political old guard, were the front-runners.
Conservative rancher Porfirio Lobo conservative rancher gathered a
strong lead and his Santos conceded defeat.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, The United States
recognized the results of a controversial election in Honduras but
said the vote was only a partial step toward restoring democracy
after a June coup that ousted the elected president.
2009 Dec 2, Honduras' Congress
ended hopes of reversing a coup that has isolated one of the poorest
countries in the Americas, voting 111-14 against reinstating ousted
President Manuel Zelaya despite intense international pressure to do
2009 Dec 8, Honduras'
president-elect Porfirio Lobo said he wants amnesty for ousted Pres.
Manuel Zelaya and for all of those involved in the June 28 coup that
deposed him. 2 gunmen riding motorcycles shot and killed retired
Gen. Julian Aristides Gonzalez, the country's top anti-drug
2009 Dec 9, The Honduras
government granted authorization for ousted Pres. Zelaya to leave
the country and go to Mexico.
2009 Dec 11, Ousted Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya said he will leave the Brazilian Embassy in
Honduras by Jan. 27, when his presidential term ends.
2009 Dec 12, In Honduras a
Foreign Ministry spokesman says Honduras will grant ousted Pres.
Zelaya safe passage to any country that offers him asylum outside
2009 Dec 15, In Honduras gunmen
attacked the car of a television journalist, killing her pregnant
daughter but leaving her uninjured.
2010 Jan 6, In Honduras the
chief prosecutor asked the Supreme Court to issue arrest warrants
charging Honduras' military commanders with abuse of power for
sending President Manuel Zelaya out of the country in his June 28
2010 Jan 20, The Dominican
government announced a deal with Honduras' president-elect to give
ousted leader Manuel Zelaya safe passage to this Caribbean nation.
2010 Jan 26, In Honduras a
Supreme Court judge found six generals innocent of abuse of power
charges for ordering soldiers to escort Zelaya out of the country at
gunpoint. Hours later, Congress voted to approve amnesty for both
the military and Zelaya, who had been charged with abuse of power
2010 Jan 27, In Honduras
President-elect Porfirio Lobo, a conservative rancher, was sworn in
as the new president, ending months of turmoil and the quest by
ousted leader Manuel Zelaya to be restored to power. Lobo provided
safe passage to Zelaya, who left his refuge at the Brazilian Embassy
and flew to exile in the Dominican Rep.
(AP, 1/27/10)(SFC, 1/28/10, p.A3)
2010 Jan 28, Honduras' new
administration began its term saying the nation is bankrupt and will
likely need international financial assistance to recover from
months of diplomatic isolation over its June coup.
2010 Mar 4, US Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on the sidelines of a meeting of
regional officials in Costa Rica, said the Obama administration will
resume aid to Honduras that was suspended after a coup last year and
urged Latin American nations to recognize the new Honduran
2010 Mar 11, In Honduras David
Meza (51), a radio journalist whose career spanned three decades,
was ambushed and killed in La Ceiba as he arrived home in his car.
2010 Mar 13, In Honduras Nahum
Palacios (36), director of a TV station in Tocoa near the Caribbean
coast, was shot to death as he drove home and was intercepted by two
other vehicles. This was the third such slaying in two weeks.
2010 Mar 26, In Honduras radio
journalists Jose Bayardo (52) and Manuel de Jesus Juarez (55) were
riddled with bullets late in the day as they drove on a highway in
the rural province of Olancho. Three other journalists have been
killed in March in Honduras, which is wracked by political divisions
relating to a 2009 coup and common crime fueled by street gangs.
2010 Apr 11, In Honduras a
shootout between rival street gangs battling for control of the drug
trade killed nine people overnight on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa.
2010 Apr 20, In Honduras a
gunman fatally shot journalist Georgino Orellana (48) in the head as
he was leaving a television studio in the city of San Pedro Sula.
2010 May 5, The US federal
government said it will allow people from Nicaragua, El Salvador and
Honduras to stay another 18 months in the US with temporary legal
status. A new expiration date was set for Jan 5, 2012. The temporary
legal status has been extended repeatedly since Hurricane Mitch
devastated the region in 1998.
2010 May 16, Honduran strongman
Oswaldo Lopez Arellano (89) died. He led two military coups and
served as president from 1963-1971 and 1972-1975.
2010 May 30, Authorities in
Central America struggled to clear roads of debris and reach cut-off
communities due to landslides and flooding triggered by Tropical
Storm Agatha. The death toll rose to include 165 people in
Guatemala; in Honduras at least 18 deaths were linked to the storm;
El Salvador President Mauricio Funes warned that the danger had not
yet passed and reported 10 deaths.
(AP, 5/30/10)(AP, 5/31/10)(AP, 6/1/10)(AP,
6/2/10)(AP, 6/6/10)(AP, 6/16/10)
2010 Jul 12, In Honduras 4
people were killed and another injured following a week of heavy
rains. 3 people died in various parts of the country after being hit
by lightning last week.
2010 Jul 21, The Central
American Integration System readmitted Honduras.
(Econ, 7/24/10, p.40)
2010 Jul 30, Chilean Foreign
Minister Alfredo Moreno said his nation's ambassador would return to
Honduras, but did not specify when.
2010 Jul 31, Mexico said it
will send its ambassador back to Honduras next week, recognizing the
government of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo a year after his
predecessor was ousted by a military-backed coup.
2010 Sep 7, In Honduras men
armed with assault rifles burst into a shoe factory in San Pedro
Sula and opened fire, killing at least 18 workers and wounding five.
The massacre was apparently carried out as part of a turf battle
between small-scale drug gangs.
2010 Sep 16, In Honduras a
street vendor died from inhaling tear gas fired by police against
hundreds of supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
2010 Sep 18, A Honduras
military helicopter crashed during an exhibition for children and
the pilot was killed.
2010 Sep 25, In Honduras Jesus
Santos, the chief suspect in the massacre of 18 workers at a shoe
factory earlier this month, was killed in a shootout with police.
2010 Sep 25, Tropical Storm
Matthew roared over Central America, dumping heavy rains on
disaster-prone parts of Honduras and Nicaragua and leading to the
evacuation of thousands amid fears of flooding and mudslides.
2010 Oct 24, Tropical Storm
Richard lashed Honduras' Caribbean coast with heavy rain and wind
and was expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it roared toward
Belize and southeastern Mexico.
2010 Oct 30, In Honduras a
carful of attackers armed with assault rifles drove up to a soccer
field in a poor neighborhood of the northern city of San Pedro Sula
and opened fire, killing 14 people. Officials said members of the
Mara 18 gang were responsible.
(AP, 10/31/10)(SFC, 11/1/10, p.A2)
2010 Nov 1, In northern
Honduras 5 armed men broke into a military base at the major
international airport and made off with a small airplane that
authorities seized last year in an anti-drug operation.
2010 Dec 28, In Honduras radio
reporter Henry Suazo (36) was gunned down outside his home in La
Masica, the 10th journalist killed in the Central American country
2010 Dec 29, Honduras and
Mexico announced they have agreed to create a high-level group to
combat attacks on undocumented Honduran migrants who are passing
through the country en route to the United States.
2010 Honduras, country of 7.7
million people, held the planet’s highest murder rate. The country
saw 6,200 killings this year, the equivalent of 82.1 homicides per
100,000 people, well above the 66 per 100,000 in neighboring El
(Econ, 7/24/10, p.40)(AP, 10/30/11)
2010 A UN study showed that 30
percent of Hondurans interviewed had been victims of extortion, 26
percent more than once.
2011 Jan 5, The US said it has
decided against renewing a $215 million aid program for farming and
infrastructure in Honduras.
2011 Jan 6, In Honduras Gunmen
killed 4 women and 4 children, including an 18-month boy, and
wounded three others in an attack on a minibus in the rural eastern
province of Olancho.
2011 Jan 7, A Jamaica coast
guard tried to stop a Honduran fishing boat in lobster- and
conch-rich waters, fatally shooting the captain and wounding two
crew members. Honduras' navy commander soon charged that the
fishermen were unjustifiably attacked.
2011 Feb 4, In Honduras gunmen
ambushed the director of the nation's main prison and shot up the
car he was driving, wounding the official in the head and also
hitting a prison employee who was a passenger.
2011 Feb 14, A small Honduran
commercial airliner crashed near the capital, killing all 14 people
aboard. It was carrying two pilots and 12 passengers, including
Assistant Secretary for Public Works Rodolfo Rovelo, United Workers
Federation of Honduras leader Jose Israel Salinas and former Economy
Secretary Carlos Chain.
2011 Feb 21, In Honduras a new
law took effect banning smoking in most public and private spaces.
It did not actually outlaw cigarettes inside homes, but did have a
provision allowing people to file complaints about secondhand smoke
2011 Feb 21, In Honduras
evangelical pastor Carlos Marroquin (41), walking his two
schnauzers, was shot to death by a gunman who tried to steal the
dogs in San Pedro Sula.
2011 Mar 9, In Honduras
security officials discovered a cocaine lab in a mountainous area in
the northeast reachable only on foot or in all-terrain vehicles.
Evidence suggested Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel installed and ran the
2011 Mar 18, Honduras'
president ordered striking school teachers back to work following
clashes with police that left one teacher dead and two others
2011 Mar 25, A Honduras supreme
court judge dismissed three arrest warrants for former President
Manuel Zelaya, allowing him to return without detention to the
country where he was deposed in a June 2009 coup. A day later Zelaya
said he won't return to Honduras for fear of being killed.
(AP, 3/25/11)(AP, 3/26/11)
2011 Mar 28, Honduran police
using tear gas and water cannons dispersed a group of protesters who
blocked a main avenue in the capital to demand the return of ousted
former President Manuel Zelaya from exile.
2011 Apr 9, Honduras' defense
minister said that the country's armed forces will join the police
for the first time in the fight against drug trafficking.
2011 May 2, A Honduran court
dismissed the last two remaining charges against former President
Manuel Zelaya, removing a key obstacle to his return to the country.
2011 May 10, In eastern
Honduras six alleged drug traffickers were killed and two police
officers and a teenager injured in a three-hour gunbattle in
Catacamas. In northern Honduras television reporter Francisco Medina
(35) was shot and killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle outside his
home in the city of Morazan. Medina was critical of the Honduran
national police and of private security firms contracted by ranchers
in the area, where drug traffickers operate.
2011 May 22, Honduras President
Porfirio Lobo signed an agreement allowing the country’s re-entry
into the Organization of American States and the return of ousted
leader Manuel Zelaya to his homeland.
2011 May 23, In Honduras gunmen
opened fire on Manuel Acosta, the manager of a daily newspaper, as
he was driving home in Tegucigalpa. Acosta was shot six times and
his car had more than 30 bullet holes. Acosta was able to drive home
and his family took him to a hospital.
2011 May 28, Former Honduras
President Manuel Zelaya returned from home exile bringing a nearly
two-year political crisis to an end and hope to one of the poorest
nations in the Americas.
2011 Jun 1, The Organization of
American States voted 32-1 to allow Honduras to rejoin the OAS. Only
Ecuador voted against the measure.
(SFC, 6/2/11, p.A4)
2011 Jun 22, In Guatemala the
World Bank unveiled a billion-dollar plan to fund security measures
in Central America, amid other hundred-million-dollar pledges from
donors bidding to cut a wave of drug gang-related violence sweeping
the region. The announcement came as leaders of Belize, Costa Rica,
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama attended the
Central American Security Conference aiming to curb crime fueled by
a spillover from Mexico's war on drug cartels.
2011 Jul 10, In Honduras a bus
crash near the Copan archaeological ruin killed 10 people and
injured 25. Among the dead were two Americans, a Canadian, three
Salvadorans and three Hondurans. Another victim has yet to be
2011 Jul 13, A Honduran patrol
boat located a semi-submersible craft used by drug traffickers to
carry cocaine. Five crew members were detained. Divers recovered
part of the cocaine aboard the craft. They estimate it was carrying
as much as five tons.
2011 Jul 27, Honduras
authorities seized a semi-submersible craft off the country's
Caribbean coast. The crew tried to sink it but officials recovered
7.3 tons (6.6 metric tons) of cocaine.
2011 Aug 14, In Honduras 2
peasants and 4 guards at the Paso del Aguan ranch died when 300
peasants armed with machetes and automatic rifles tried to take over
the ranch. Police the next day found the bodies of five peasants in
a trash dump near the ranch. They included 3 men and 2 women.
2011 Aug 20, In Honduras the
UN-backed 1st World Summit of African Descendants called on the UN
to create a development fund to fight poverty and protect the human
rights of Afro-descendants. Over 1,000 representatives from 70
nations gathered for the event. The 2nd World Summit was scheduled
for 2014 in Madrid.
2011 Sep 2, Officials announced
a joint US-Colombian operation against a major trafficker, in which
police arrested 30 people and seized 21 small planes that were
ferrying cocaine to Central America. Most of the planes were seized
this past week in Guatemala and Honduras. Officials also announced a
$2.7 million reward for trafficker Daniel "Loco" Barrera.
2011 Sep 7, In Honduras Mahadeo
Roopchand Sadloo, a fervent supporter of former Pres. Manuel Zelaya,
died after he was shot five times inside the tire shop he owned. A
truth commission has found that at least 20 Zelaya supporters have
been killed by security forces.
2011 Sep 10, Honduras Security
Minister Oscar Alvarez resigned, saying he lacked economic support
for his efforts and had been stepping on the toes of powerful
interests. The government of President Porfirio Lobo also accepted
the resignation of Foreign Minister Mario Canahuati. The moves
marked the biggest shake-ups so far in Lobo's nearly two-year
2011 Oct 6, A United Nations
report said Honduras and El Salvador have the highest homicide rates
in the world. Honduras had 6,200 killings in 2010 out of a
population of 7.7 million people, while El Salvador with 6.1 million
people had 4,000 homicides.
2011 Oct 14, In Honduras masked
gunmen opened fire on four luxury SUVs as they left the parking lot
the San Pedro Sula airport in the north, killing six men and
wounding another three. Authorities say Mexico's Sinaloa and Zetas
drug cartels operate cocaine-trafficking routes in northern and
2011 Oct 14, Heavy rains
generated by a low-pressure system hammered Central America for a
third day. Mudslides and swollen rivers have already killed 36
people. At least 21 people have been killed in Guatemala, 6 in
Honduras, and 4 in Nicaragua.
2011 Oct 20, The Honduras
Supreme Court voted 12-3 to reject abuse of authority charges
against now-retired Gens. Romeo Vasquez, Luis Prince, Venancio
Cervantes, Miguel Garcia, Juan Pablo Rodriguez and Carlos Cuellar.
They had been accused of toppling former president Manuel Zelaya and
flying him to Costa Rica in 2009.
2011 Oct 20, Heavy rains
generated by a low-pressure system hammered Central America for 10
days. Mudslides and swollen rivers killed at least 105 people
including 38 in Guatemala, 34 in El Salvador, 15 in Honduras, 13 in
Nicaragua and 5 in Costa Rica.
2011 Oct 30, It was reported
that half of the cocaine that reaches the United States is now
offloaded somewhere along the Honduran coast and heavily forested
interior, estimated at a total of 20 to 25 tons each month.
2011 Dec 3, In Honduras a
female Peace Corps volunteer was shot in the leg during an armed
robbery in a bus in the city of San Pedro Sula. Two others were
wounded. One of the three alleged robbers was killed by a bus
passenger. A US government decision to pull out the entire Peace
Corps delegation came 18 days later
2011 Dec 8, The Honduran
Congress passed bills allowing authorities to wiretap the telephone
conversations, emails and bank accounts of suspected criminals and
banning motorcycles from carrying passengers for 6 months. The bills
were aimed at stemming a wave of drug violence. President Porfirio
Lobo was expected to sign both bills.
2011 Dec 21, The US government
said it is suspending training for new Peace Corps volunteers in the
Central American nations of Guatemala and El Salvador while it
assesses security concerns. El Salvador has 113 volunteers, and
Guatemala, 222. It was also decided to pull all volunteers from
(AP, 12/21/11)(AP, 1/18/12)
2011 Honduras saw 7,104
killings this year, above the 6,200 recorded last year.
(SFC, 3/29/12, p.A2)
2012 Jan 11, Honduran officials
said men armed with AJK-47 rifles and machetes killed 4 adults and 4
children in the Aguan River Valley, an area torn apart by a land
dispute between palm plantation workers and landowners.
(SFC, 1/12/12, p.A2)
2012 Jan 12, In Honduras a
decomposed, bullet-riddled body was found near the border with
Nicaragua. The body of Santos Guadalupe Borge was soon identified as
the purported leader of a shadowy Nicaraguan resistance group.
2012 Jan 16, All 158 Peace
Corps volunteers in Honduras left the country, weeks after the
United States announced that it would pull them out for safety
2012 Jan 17, Honduran lawyer
Ricardo Rosales (42), who had reported torture and human rights
violations by police officers, was killed by 3 gunmen in Tela.
2012 Jan 19, Honduras' congress
approved legislation to allow extradition of its citizens charged
elsewhere with drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime.
Honduras has barred extraditing its nationals since 1982.
2012 Feb 14, In Honduras a fire
swept through a prison in the town of Comayagua in one of the
world's deadliest fires in decades. Many of the survivors escaped.
852 people had been crowded into the prison built for half that
number. The prisoners whose scorched bodies were carried out piece
by piece had been locked inside. Most inmates had never been
charged, let alone convicted. The final death toll numbered 362
(AP, 2/15/12)(AP, 2/16/12)(AP, 2/18/12)(Econ,
2/18/12, p.40)(AP, 2/14/13)
2012 Mar 11, In Honduras Fausto
Hernandez Arteaga (54) of Radio Alegre de Colon was killed in Saba,
Colon province. He was director of the station's "Voice of the News"
program. 19 journalists have been killed over the last two years in
2012 Mar 29, In Honduras at
least 13 people died during an uprising by armed inmates at the San
Pedro Sula prison, one of them decapitated and the others killed by
a fire started by the rioters.
2012 Apr 18, In Honduras Via
Campesina activists and officials said farmworkers have seized
30,000 acres across the country as part of a dispute with large
landowners and the government.
(SFC, 4/19/12, p.A2)
2012 May 6, It was reported
that the US military has established 3 new forward bases in Honduras
to interdict smugglers moving cocaine toward the US from South
(SSFC, 5/6/12, p.A8)
2012 May 11, In northeastern
Honduras police gunfire killed four innocent people, including two
pregnant women on the Patuca River. On May 16 the US Drug
Enforcement Administration confirmed that some of its agents were on
a US-owned helicopter with Honduran police officers when the
shooting happened. People on the boat transporting cocaine had
reportedly fired on the helicopters. Villagers later said masked
agents landed their helicopters in the community near the river and
began breaking down doors, hunting for a drug trafficker they called
"El Renco." People in the predominantly Indian Mosquito coast region
burned down government offices and demanded that US drug agents
leave the area.
(AP, 5/17/12)(AP, 5/22/12)
2012 May 17, In Honduras
prisoners in San Pedro Sula seized hostages and battled among
themselves leaving at least one person dead.
(SFC, 5/18/12, p.A2)
2012 May 21, In Honduras Juan
Carlos Bonilla Valladares (46), nicknamed "The Tiger," was named
police chief as part of President Porfirio Lobo's efforts to reform
a department that is widely accused of killings and human rights
violations. A 10-year-old report on Bonilla Valladares soon
resurfaced in widely distributed emails and on a local website. The
report named him in at least 3 killings or forced disappearances
between 1998 and 2002 and said he was among several officers
suspected in 11 other cases.
2012 Jun 23, In Honduras a US
Drug Enforcement Administration agent shot and killed a suspected
drug trafficker during a raid in a remote northern area, known as a
destination for illicit flights carrying cocaine from South America.
Honduran National Police arrested four suspects and seized 792
pounds (360 kg) of cocaine. 6 other people were arrested later on
suspicion of aiding the smuggling operation.
2012 Jun 24, In Honduras
journalist Anibal Barrow (62) was kidnapped while driving in his
truck. Three of his family members were also taken, but were quickly
released unharmed. On Jul 9 his body was found in a shallow pit on
the bank of the Siboney lagoon in San Pedro Sula. His body had been
beheaded and the arms legs cut off before it was set ablaze. 4 of 10
suspects in the case were reported detained.
2012 Jun, In Honduras leaders
of the Unified Farmworkers Movement of Aguan signed an agreement
with Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, with the farmers due to
receive most of the land they still hold in the Aguan Valley and
repay the government $16 million through a long-term, low-interest
loan. However eviction orders remained in force because the
government failed to pay Dinant Corp. for the property by the Feb. 8
deadline. Thousands of farmworkers had seized about 27,000 acres
(11,000 hectares) owned by Miguel Facusse's Corporacion Dinant, and
demanded ownership of the property.
2012 Jul 3, In Honduras the
pilot of a suspected drug flight was shot and killed in an
anti-narcotics by two US Drug Enforcement Administration agents
after he refused to surrender. A 2nd injure pilot was arrested.
Honduran police said the twin-engine plane arriving from Colombia
with a load of cocaine crashed while being chased by government
2012 Aug 8, In Honduras a new
police extortion unit was reported to have received 506 complaints
of extortion involving homes, taxis and businesses in Tegucigalpa in
the first half of this year.
2012 Aug 25, Honduras President
Porfirio Lobo replaced the head of the Honduran air force, a day
after a visit by Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of the U.S. Southern
2012 Sep 4, American
activist Michael Strong signed an agreement for a small project to
create jobs and cheap housing in Honduras. This outmaneuvered plans
by Paul Romer, an economist at New York Univ., for a larger int’l.
project to build a charter city in Honduras.
(Economist, 10/6/12, p.71)
2012 Sep 7, The United States
confirmed that it has suspended sharing of radar intelligence with
Honduras because the Central American nation's air force shot down
two suspected drug planes in violation of agreements with
Washington. The radar intelligence was blocked starting in
2012 Sep 23, In Honduras human
rights lawyer Antonio Trejo Cabrera was shot dead while attending a
wedding in Tegucigalpa. He had fought a proposal to build 3
privately run cities with their own police and tax systems.
(SFC, 9/24/12, p.A2)
2012 Dec 12, Honduras President
Porfirio Lobo's National Party overwhelmingly and, many say
illegally, approved the the dismissal of 4 judges who had rejected
the president's plan to weed out corrupt police.
2012 Dec 13, Honduras President
Porfirio Lobo interrupted all television programing to call for a
national dialogue with the country's key players, many of whom he
accused of trying to oust him just a week ago, to find a way out of
a constitutional crisis.
2012 Honduras had a record
homicide rate of 90.4 people for every 100,000 inhabitants.
(Econ, 7/12/14, p.13)
2013 Jan 10, Honduras’ El
Heraldo newspaper reported that police overnight had captured Kevin
Samraid Carranza Padilla (28), a leader of the 18th Street gang
along with his girlfriend, Cindy Yadira Garcia (19). Carranza was
suspected in the shooting death of a police officer months earlier.
Carranza and Yadira were later reported disappeared.
(SSFC, 2/17/13, p.A16)
2013 Jan 15, In Honduras
British tourist Kaya Omer (33) was shot dead in the dangerous city
of San Pedro Sula, after being assaulted by two gunmen who stole his
2013 Jan 25, The Honduras
Congress went on recess. Lawmakers had only partially passed a
budget to pay some of state employees and contractors. That left
undecided the budgets of autonomous institutions such as utilities
and the port authority. The country has been on the brink of
bankruptcy for months, as lawmakers put off passing a budget.
2013 Mar, In Honduras two
mothers discovered the bodies of their sons after the men had called
in a panic to say they were surrounded by armed, masked police. The
two members of the 18th Street gang had been shot in the head, their
hands bound so tightly the cords cut to the bone.
2013 Mar, The US suspended
funding for the cleanup effort of the Honduras police force. In June
the US Embassy made public confirmation of the suspension. 142
officers failed out of 373 who took a polygraph test between May
2012, when the program started, and November, when a Honduran law
authorizing the tests expired, but apparently none were fired.
2013 May 13, It was reported
that at least five times in the last few months, members of a
Honduras street gang were killed or went missing just after run-ins
with the US-supported national police.
2013 May 28, Honduras' two
biggest and most dangerous street gangs declared an unprecedented
truce, offering peace in the world's most violent country in
exchange for rehabilitation and jobs.
2013 Jun 3, It was reported
that coffee leaf rust has devastated coffee plantations across
Central America and knocked half a million people out of work. Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were all severely
(SFC, 6/4/13, p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/alqvfoc)
2013 Aug 2, A report by the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said Honduras' 24 prisons
are controlled by inmates because the state has abandoned its role
in rehabilitating people convicted of crimes.
2013 Aug 3, Honduran President
Porfirio Lobo ordered the militarization of the country's main
prison after a gunfight there left at least three gang members dead
and 12 people injured.
2013 Aug 7, In Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, Edwin Mejia (15) shot and killed traffic officer Santos
Arita (42) after he and gang partner Eduardo Aguilera (15) were
stooped for illegally riding tandem on a stolen motorcyle. Aguilera
was soon caught and beaten to death by police. Mejia was also beaten
and faced trial.
2013 Aug 22, The Honduran
Congress approved the creation of a new military-style police force,
aimed at countering violence spawned by Mexican drug cartels that
use the country to transport cocaine.
2013 Oct 12, Honduras police
clashed with local residents during the arrest of Carlos Peralta
(22), a man believed responsible for decapitating a 7-year-old boy
in the rural town of San Francisco de la Paz. The boy's body was
found a day earlier in the town in the Olancho region.
2013 Nov 24, Honduras held
elections. Ruling National Party's candidate Juan Hernandez, the
head of Congress and considered to be Honduras' most powerful
politician, faced deposed Pres. Manuel Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro
(54). Honduran voters gave the ruling National Party four more years
in the presidency.
(Reuters, 11/24/13)(AP, 11/25/13)
of the vote in the Nov 24 election against 28.79% for Castro.
2013 Dec 1, Honduras' defeated
leftist presidential candidate, the wife of ousted former leader
Manuel Zelaya, led thousands of supporters onto the streets of
Tegucigalpa to protest the election results.
2013 Dec 19, Honduras President
Porfirio Lobo fired Gen. Juan Carlos Bonilla, the national police
chief, who has long faced accusations he ran death squads when he
was a lower-level officer and whose force has been hit with frequent
2013 Dec 22, In Honduras
Nedenia Post Dye (46), a great-granddaughter of Marjorie
Merriweather Post, was found slain at her luxury spa on Roatan
island. Police arrested suspect Lenin Roberto Arana, a local singer
that to quit drugs.
(SSFC, 12/29/13, p.A5)
2014 Jan 27, In Honduras Juan
Orlando Hernández Alvarado succeeded Porfirio Lobo Sosa as
president. During Mr. Lobo’s presidency the social security system
was defrauded of $300 million. A small amount of money from firms
linked to the scandal helped finance Mr. Hernandez’s campaign.
2014 May 5, Honduras detained
Capt. Robert Mayne and five members of his crew aboard the Aqua
Quest were detained in Puerto Lempira. The men were reportedly
detained for firearms violations "on the false claim that a weapon
they were carrying was an AK-47." All six men were released on June
(AP, 5/30/14)(AP, 6/27/14)
2014 May 8, Honduras for the
first time extradited a suspected drug trafficker to the United
States. Carlos Arnoldo Lobo (40) was arrested March 27 and has been
indicted on US drug trafficking charges in Florida.
2014 Jun 7, Arizona officials
said the US government has asked them to rush medical supplies to a
makeshift holding center housing hundreds of migrant children who
were sent to the state after crossing into the US from Mexico alone.
Jimena Díaz, consul general of Guatemala in Phoenix, visited the
center a day earlier and said about 250 children are from Guatemala,
with the rest coming from El Salvador and Honduras.
2014 Jun 24, The Honduran
fishing boat "Miss Nushka" was lost about 83 km (50 miles) north of
the port of La Ceiba in heavy winds and waves. Divers later
recovered one body inside the boat. Seven fishermen were rescued
after floating for 10 hours before coming upon a small island. 7
2014 Jul 2, The US government
launched a $1 million international media campaign warning families
in Central America that it's best to stay at home, following a surge
in illegal immigration. The message was aimed primarily at Honduras,
Guatemala and El Salvador.
2014 Jul 4, In southern
Honduras three miners were rescued after spending more than two days
trapped following a collapse at a small, wildcat gold mine. Eight
others remained missing.
2014 Jul 18, More than 40
Central American children were expelled from the United States on
flights to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, as the US government
stepped up its deportation of illegal child migrants.
2014 Nov 18, In western
Honduras the bodies of Maria Jose Alvarado (19) and her sister Sofia
(23) were found buried near a river in the mountainous region of
Santa Barbara. Maria was found murdered just days before she was due
to compete in the Miss World pageant in London. She and her sister
had been missing since Nov 13, when they were seen leaving a party
in Santa Barbara. Her boyfriend Plutarco Ruiz confessed to killing
the sisters and led authorities to the bodies.
2015 Apr 9, In Honduras
prominent father-son lawyers Jose Eduardo Gauggel (70) and his son
Jose Eduardo Gauggel Medina (48), who had held a variety of
political positions, were killed in the city of San Pedro Sula.
2015 Apr 20, The annual Goldman
Environmental Prize was awarded in San Francisco to six activists.
They included: Marilyn Baptiste (44) of Canada, for her work to stop
the development of an open pit gold and copper mine that threatened
lakes in British Columbia; Berta Caceres (42) of Honduras for her
efforts fighting the Agua Zarca Dam, which threatened to cut off the
water and hunting grounds of the Lenca people; Phyllis Omido (35) of
Kenya for her work exposing lead fumes from a smelting plant; Jean
Wiener of Haiti (50) for his efforts to protect and restore marine
wildlife; Howard Wood (60) of Scotland for his efforts to restore
undersea ecology; and Myint Zaw (39) of Myanmar for halt the
construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Irrawaddy River that
would submerge 50 villages and displace 18,000
(SFC, 4/20/15, p.A6)
2015 May, In Honduras a
journalist revealed that the ruling party had benefited from a
scheme to defraud the national health service.
(Econ, 8/15/15, p.25)
2015 Jun 5, In Honduras
thousands of protesters marched through the capital demanding the
resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez over a corruption
scandal that has seen growing calls for him to quit. Earlier this
week Hernandez admitted his conservative ruling National Party had
accepted money that had been misappropriated from social security
2015 Jun 19, In Honduras
thousands of angry protesters marched in the capital for the fourth
week in a row to demand President Juan Orlando Hernandez step down
over a corruption scandal.
2015 Jun 23, In Honduras police
said Juan Carlos Cruz Andara, a journalist and gay activist, was
stabbed 25 times by unknown attackers at his home in Puerto Cortes.
2015 Oct 7, The US Treasury
Dept. announced that former Honduras VP Jaime Rosenthal, his son
Yani and nephew Yankel had been designated under the Kingpin Act. US
prosecutors accused them of laundering money for Central American
(SFC, 1/4/16, p.A2)
2015 Dec 3, The Swiss justice
ministry (FOJ) arrested two more top FIFA officials on a request
from the US justice department. South American Football
Confederation president Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay and Alfredo
Hawit of Honduras, head of the Confederation of North, Central
American and Caribbean, were arrested at the five-star Baur au Lac
hotel in Zurich.
2015 Dec 10, Honduras
midfielder Arnold Peralta was shot to death in the city of La Ceiba.
Peralta (26) was attacked by several men as he got into his car at a
shopping center in his birth city.
2016 Jan 2, Honduras said the
US has requested the extradition of former vice president Jaime
Rosenthal, one of the country's biggest tycoons, whom it accuses of
drug trafficking and money laundering. The extradition request was
received before December 24, but had been waiting for the document
to be translated into Spanish.
2016 Jan 13, In Honduras 3
American women died in a bus crash while on a humanitarian mission.
They were identified as Columbia student Olivia Erhardt, Barnard
student Daniella Moffson and Abigail Flanagan, a nurse practitioner
at Columbia University Medical Center and a student at the
university's School of General Studies.
2016 Feb 1, Honduras declared a
state of emergency after officials said the number of Zika
infections is rising at an "alarming" rate in the Central American
2016 Feb 6, In Honduras some
200,000 residents spent the day ridding homes and gardens of
standing water and fumigating areas suspected of harboring mosquito
larvae carrying the Zika virus.
2016 Feb 22, In Honduras an
international mission aimed at tackling widespread corruption was
installed, kicking off a four-year mandate that its backers hope
will clean up corruption and lead to profound changes. The
Organization of American States established an ambitious new
2016 Feb 23, Police in Honduras
arrested eight people, including a mayor of a town close to the
capital and a former policeman, on charges of links to one of the
country's most feared criminal gangs. Authorities looking for new
ways to combat gangs terrorizing the country began a police
operation called "Avalanche" to seize bank accounts, properties and
even a small hospital from wealthy crime bosses.
(AFP, 2/23/16)(AFP, 3/12/16)
2016 Mar 3, Honduran Indian
leader Berta Caceres, who won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize
for her role in fighting a dam project, was murdered at her home in
La Esperanza. On May 2 police arrested four people related to the
(AP, 3/3/16)(SFC, 5/3/16, p.A2)
2016 Mar 5, In Honduras
assailants armed with AK-47 assault rifles burst into a pool hall in
Tegucigalpa and opened fire, killing at least 12 people and wounding
three others. The pool hall was controlled by the Barrio 18 gang.
2016 Mar 11, In Honduras deputy
warden Juan Andres Sanchez, who helped run the Marco Aurelio
penitentiary to the north of the capital Tegucigalpa, was shot and
killed just outside the city.
2016 Apr 29, Honduran officials
fired more than two dozen top police officers in an aggressive move
to purge security forces that have been accused of being infiltrated
by organized crime.
2016 May 27, The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) said around 2.8 million people in
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras need food aid after two
consecutive years of severe drought decimated crops and exacerbated
hunger among the poor due to prolonged dry spells since mid-2014,
linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon.
2016 Jun 1, In Honduras Rene
Martinez (39), a leader in the gay community, was kidnapped in the
city of San Pedro Sula. His body was found two days later.
2016 Jul 30, Doctors in
Honduras said six women have delivered babies with the birth defect
microcephaly in just three days, raising fresh concerns about the
spread of the Zika virus. Honduras has detected 27,869 cases of Zika
2016 Aug 14, In Honduras
killers wielding assault rifles shot 8 men to death on the outskirts
of the capital before dawn. Authorities blamed a territorial dispute
between rival street gangs.
2017 Jul 25, In Pennsylvania
the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of
Joseph Maurizio (71), accused of sexually abusing orphans during
missionary trips to Honduras, and denied his request for a new
trial. The suspended priest has maintained his innocence. Maurizio
was incarcerated at a low-security federal prison in Ohio with a
projected release date of April 2029.