In a key step toward the November 2025 general elections, four presidential candidates in Honduras signed an agreement on Tuesday pledging to advance a national anti-corruption agenda. The commitments include creating an international commission, reinstating the extradition treaty with the United States, and implementing a comprehensive system for corruption prevention.

The only candidate who did not sign the declaration was Rixi Moncada of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre). In contrast, the pact was endorsed by Nasry Asfura (National Party), Salvador Nasralla (Liberal Party), Mario Rivera (Christian Democracy), and Nelson Ávila (PINU-SD). The initiative was spearheaded by the National Anti-Corruption Council (CNA) under the slogan “Honduras First: A Promise That Must Be Kept, A Duty That Must Be Fulfilled.”

During the event, Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla vowed to establish the International Commission Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (CICIH) within his first year in office, ensuring its autonomy and independence. “Honduras loses 100 billion lempiras —$3.81 billion— each year to theft. A single administration can steal up to $15.25 billion. I will put a stop to that,” Nasralla declared.

Mario Rivera of the Christian Democracy Party described the declaration as a “moral pact” and a “declaration of war against the corrupt and shameless individuals who have looted the country.” Nelson Ávila of PINU-SD called for the creation of a national unity government and warned against imposing “dictatorial or exclusionary attitudes.”

The agreement also calls for reactivating the extradition treaty with the U.S., currently suspended, as a key tool in combating drug trafficking and transnational organized crime. It further proposes a national anti-corruption strategy embedded in the state’s structural design, with concrete actions aimed at strengthening transparency and accountability.

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CNA Director Gabriela Castellanos described the commitment as a “turning point,” stressing that the next administration “will have no margin for error or indifference.” She emphasized that leading Honduras will require “moral courage to dismantle power networks that perpetuate looting and impunity,” beyond mere technical capacity.

“The anti-corruption discourse cannot be an excuse for inefficiency in governance,” Castellanos warned, adding that the CNA will continue to expose and monitor “the looting of public resources” with names, faces, and figures.

In the November general elections, Hondurans will elect a president, three vice presidents, 128 members of Congress, 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament, and 298 municipal mayors.

Costa Rica, a country internationally recognized for its democratic and political stability, is heading toward an unprecedented decision: whether to lift President Rodrigo Chaves’s immunity so he can face a criminal trial over alleged irregular management of funds from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).

On Wednesday, the Legislative Assembly formed a commission of three lawmakers to analyze the accusation against the president, which was forwarded earlier this month by the Supreme Court of Justice. The commission has 20 days, extendable for another 20, to issue a report so that the full Assembly can vote on whether to lift the president’s immunity.

Lifting the immunity would require 38 votes — two-thirds of the legislature — which is largely composed of opposition parties.

If immunity is removed, prosecutors would be able to continue their investigation and potentially question the president. If the motion fails, the case would return to the judiciary and remain pending until Chaves’s term ends in May 2026.

Since the country’s last civil war in 1948 and the abolition of the army later that year, Costa Rica has held uninterrupted elections, every president has completed their term without major issues, and none has ever had their immunity lifted — although several have faced judicial proceedings.

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The Association for Participatory Citizenship (ACI PARTICIPA) denounced on Thursday that killings of land defenders and attacks aimed at silencing the press continue in Honduras.

“We continue to see murders of defenders of land and territory, as well as aggressions to silence the press. In 2024, there were 490 attacks and aggressions that constitute human rights violations,” said ACI PARTICIPA’s executive director, Hedme Castro, during the presentation of the 2024 Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Honduras.

Castro noted that the aggressions range “from attempts on lives, threats, harassment, intimidation, and smear campaigns, which have become very frequent, to obstruction of work, surveillance, and criminalization.”

She highlighted that, although only seven defenders were killed in 2024 compared to 24 in 2023, “last year we saw a significantly high number of women murdered, and cases of missing children.”

Moreover, Castro criticized the authorities for failing to address the violence. “There is no response from the authorities to reduce the violence in the country; in fact, I believe that the ‘fathers of the nation’ (members of Parliament) are not setting the right example, and the situation in the Legislative branch is actually fueling violence,” she added, referring to frequent violent incidents in Congress.

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The ACI PARTICIPA report also notes that the government led by President Xiomara Castro has made “an important effort over the past two years to improve citizens’ access to basic rights, helping to cushion the effects of economic deterioration, although a decent standard of living has yet to be achieved for the majority of Hondurans.”