Honduras: State of Emergency Declared After Weeks of Floods and Anti-Government Protests Merge Into National Crisis

TEGUCIGALPA — Honduras declared a nationwide state of emergency Saturday after consecutive weeks of flooding from unusual late-season rains merged with growing anti-government protests over corruption allegations, leaving at least 18 people dead, 340,000 displaced, and several major highways impassable. President Xiomara Castro ordered the military to take control of relief operations and authorized curfews in the capital and four northern departments.

The floods have inundated at least 200 communities in the Mosquitia region and the Sula Valley, where the U health infrastructure has buckled under the dual pressure of waterborne disease outbreaks and a wave of heat-related injuries from protest clashes. The national power grid failed twice in 48 hours, cutting electricity to an estimated 1.2 million people. Castro’s administration has requested emergency assistance from Mexico, Brazil and the United States.

Protest groups that had been organizing weekly demonstrations against a proposed mining law reform — citing environmental concerns and community displacement — said they would temporarily suspend demonstrations to allow relief operations, though a smaller faction vowed to continue marching. The Catholic Church in Tegucigalpa opened 14 shelters in church properties across the capital and called for a humanitarian corridor along the Pan-American Highway.

Written by Diego Vargas, Latin America Correspondent