Tag: Honduras

Honduras promises to end extradition treaty with US after ambassador comments

By Orfa Mejia and Brendan O’Boyle TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) -Honduras’ foreign ministry on Wednesday said it would end a more than a century-old extradition treaty with the U.S. after Washington’s ambassador expressed concern about a meeting between Honduran and Venezuelan defense officials. In a letter to the U.S. embassy shared on social media by Foreign Minister Enrique Reina, Honduras’ foreign ministry expressed “the decision of the Government of the Republic of Honduras to terminate the extradition […]

No damage as magnitude 6.8 quake shakes Central America

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AFP) — A magnitude 6.8 earthquake off the coast of Central America shook El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua on Tuesday, though without any immediate damage reported, according to Salvadoran authorities. The quake was registered at 6:22 pm (0222 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean, about 66 kilometers (41 miles) south of the Salvadoran coast, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS originally recorded the earthquake at a magnitude of […]

China, Honduras draft economic agreements

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — A Chinese delegation met with officials in Honduras Tuesday to thrash out bilateral economic agreements to build on official diplomatic ties established last month, the foreign ministry said. Honduras cut ties with Taiwan to switch its diplomatic allegiance to China. China considers the self-ruled, democratic island a part of its territory to be retaken one day, and does not allow countries to recognize both Beijing and Taipei. A senior Chinese delegation […]

Honduras to start diplomatic ties with China, in blow to Taiwan

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — Honduras will establish diplomatic ties with China, President Xiomara Castro said Tuesday, a move that would result in the severing of longstanding official ties with Taiwan. Castro wrote on Twitter that she had instructed Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina “to undertake the opening of official relations with the People’s Republic of China.” The switch — which Castro pledged to make while on the campaign trail — comes weeks after her government announced […]

Rising seas eating away at Honduran fishing village

by Noe LEIVA Agence France-Presse CEDEÑO, Honduras (AFP) — The coastline of Cedeno, a fishing village in southern Honduras, looks like it was hit by an earthquake. Houses, businesses and clubs stand in ruins. Forsaken. But it was not a quake. Nor a tsunami. A much slower, but equally destructive force is at work in Cedeno and other villages on the Pacific Gulf of Fonseca: sea level rise. The creeping ocean has claimed ever more […]

Honduran judge grants extradition of ex-president Hernandez to US

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) – A judge in Honduras on Wednesday granted the extradition of former president Juan Orlando Hernandez to the United States where he is wanted for alleged drug trafficking, the Central American country’s Supreme Court of Justice said on Twitter. A judge “decided to accept the request for extradition presented by the Court of the Southern District of New York against ex-president of the republic Juan Orlando Hernandez Alvarado,” the court said. The […]

New Honduras president tests positive for Covid

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — Xiomara Castro, who last month became the first woman to win the presidency of Honduras, said Sunday that she was infected with Covid-19 but will continue working remotely. “The result of the PCR (test) yesterday (Saturday) was negative, today’s is positive,” the 62-year-old president, who replaced Juan Orlando Hernandez, announced on her Twitter account. “According to the tests it is mild. With the blessing of the Creator of the universe, I […]

Castro to be sworn in as first woman president of Honduras

by Moises AVILA TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — Honduras president-elect Xiomara Castro is due to be sworn in as the country’s first woman president on Thursday, as confusion reigns over who will be head of congress during her four-year term. Two rival factions in Castro’s left-wing Libre party have voted in their own president of congress and negotiations to reach a solution stalled overnight on Wednesday. Luis Redondo, who has the support of Castro and much […]

Taiwan VP to attend Honduras inauguration with diplomatic ties in balance

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan said Wednesday its deputy leader will go to the inauguration of Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro as the island faces the potential loss of yet another diplomatic ally in Latin America. Castro said during campaigning that she would “immediately open diplomatic and commercial relations with mainland China” if she won. Last month, neighbouring Nicaragua switched its allegiance to Beijing, leaving Honduras as one of just 14 countries that still diplomatically recognize […]

Fire brought under control after ravaging Honduran resort island

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — Authorities managed to bring a major fire on a tiny Honduran resort island under control Saturday, after the blaze consumed dozens of homes and forced 400 people to evacuate. “The fire is 100 percent controlled,” said the head of the government’s Permanent Intervention Commission (COPECO), Max Gonzales, at a mid-afternoon press conference. A huge cloud of black smoke rose in the early morning from the island of Guanaja, located in the […]

Guatemalan security forces break up US-bound migrant caravan

by Edgar Calderon with Henry Morales Arana in Guatemala City VADO HONDO, Guatemala (AFP) — Guatemalan security forces on Monday broke up a caravan of about 4,000 Honduran migrants trying to reach the United States on a journey of thousands of kilometers through Central America on foot, AFP reporters witnessed. Police advanced on the group in a coordinated move, striking batons against their shields to make an intimidating noise, prompting the migrants to scatter. The […]

Guatemala police fire tear gas, disperse US-bound migrant caravan

VANO HONDO, Guatemala (AFP) — Guatemalan police fired tear gas Sunday to disperse thousands of Honduran migrants trying to reach the United States on foot, with soldiers beating back a group trying to push through barricades, AFP journalists witnessed. Security forces surrounded the migrant caravan on a road in the southeastern Guatemalan town of Vado Hondo, near the border with Honduras. Amid the deafening explosions of gas and smoke cannisters, many migrants retreated, with some […]