Honduras Watchdog: Fuel Protests Hurt Trade as Subsidy Tops US$48 Million

Fuel-price protests in northern Honduras now hurt the economy beyond transport, a civil-society group warned on Thursday 1 October. The cost, it said, ends up with ordinary Hondurans.

The warning came from the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ), a Honduran group that works on justice and transparency. It came as Congress opened new talks with hauliers, while the state’s fuel subsidy has already doubled its budget.

José Perdomo, a legal officer at ASJ, said the problems moving around the north are spreading, according to the newspaper El Mundo. They affect “distribution, marketing, purchase, sale and delivery of products” across the country, he said.

Those disruptions, he argued, are passed on to the population. He did not put a figure on the damage.

Perdomo called for an agenda of priorities to deal with the country’s several crises at once. Congress, he said, should focus on issues that hit citizens directly and avoid what he called populist measures.

Any solution must meet legal requirements and have institutional backing, he added, so that it lasts.

On 29 September residents around Cofradía blocked the highway between San Pedro Sula and western Honduras, El Mundo reported. They used heavy vehicles, buses, stones and tyres.

They said constant price rises were eating into household budgets.

San Pedro Sula is the country’s main industrial city, and nearby Puerto Cortés is its main port. Delays there ripple through supply chains.

On 29 September Anabel Gallardo, who heads the private-sector council Cohep, proposed a reserve fund to soften fuel prices. She warned that a shortage would deepen the crisis.

Earlier talks in Congress ended without a deal on fuel taxes on 30 September. On 1 October two committees opened what they called the first inter-institutional technical table, starting with cargo hauliers.

The transport authority, Cohep, the fuel distributors’ association and the energy and finance ministries were invited. Bus operators are due to join later.

Erik Alvarado, who chairs the hydrocarbons committee, said fuel subsidies have cost more than L1.3 billion (about US$48 million). The 2026 budget had set aside L650 million (about US$24 million).

Energy Minister Eduardo Oviedo said rising fuel costs are also straining public finances. He said the meetings with transport representatives would continue.

The technical table will continue with transport groups, and any tax change would need a vote in Congress. Lempira amounts here use the Central Bank of Honduras reference rate of 1 October, 26.90 lempiras per US dollar.

The ASJ warning is a qualitative assessment, not a measured loss, and it does not mean supplies have run out. It does show the dispute moving from the pump to the wider economy.

ASJ, the Association for a More Just Society, is a Honduran civil-society organisation. It works on justice, transparency and public policy.

Honduras imports all the fuel it uses, so rises in world oil prices pass through to its pumps. The government subsidises part of the increase, at a growing cost.

The protests have mainly taken the form of road blockades. Travellers should expect delays and check routes, especially between San Pedro Sula and western Honduras.

Sources: El Mundo (Honduras), 1 October 2026 ; El Mundo (Honduras), Congress technical table, 1 October 2026 ; El Mundo (Honduras), Cofradía blockades, 29 September 2026 ; El Mundo (Honduras), Cohep, 29 September 2026 ; Central Bank of Honduras, reference exchange rate, 1 October 2026 .