In 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation approved regulations on diplomatic and official passports, igniting a debate about how far public office privileges should extend in Honduras. The rules specify that former heads of the branches of government and former Foreign Ministry officials can keep their diplomatic passports for life, a benefit that also applies to their spouses.
The provision gained approval through Agreement No. 001-SG-2025, endorsed on May 6, 2025 by then-Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina García and later released in the official gazette La Gaceta on June 14, 2025. The document outlines the regulations governing the issuance and use of diplomatic and official passports, designed to support the international travel of officials carrying out government missions.
The matter has resurfaced after a recent announcement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling on former officials to hand back these documents, a move that has pushed the breadth of the exemptions outlined in the regulations to the center of the discussion.
Extent of the Benefit Available to Former Officials
The regulations define the diplomatic passport as a document issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to officials carrying out official missions abroad, with the aim of facilitating their international travel and enabling them to receive diplomatic courtesies from other states.
However, Article 13 of the regulations introduces a specific provision stating that:
Former leaders of the government branches and their spouses, along with former secretaries and undersecretaries of state within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and their spouses, are granted the lifelong privilege of holding a diplomatic passport.
From an administrative perspective, this clause indicates that certain former officials are allowed to keep the document once they have left their roles, without any further requirement to return it.
Among the individuals who might qualify for this provision are the former President Xiomara Castro, the former head of the National Congress Luis Redondo, and the current President of the Supreme Court of Justice Rebeca Ráquel Obando.
The benefit also covers former officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Enrique Reina himself, along with former Deputy Foreign Ministers Gerardo Torres, Cindy Larissa Rodríguez, and Zulmit Solemit Rivera Zúniga. Under the regulations, this privilege is likewise granted to their spouses, widening the reach of the benefit beyond those who directly served in public office.
This provision was approved weeks before Reina submitted his resignation on May 27, 2025, when he announced his participation in the electoral process as a vice-presidential candidate on the ticket headed by Rixi Moncada, representative of the LIBRE party.
Diplomatic Role and Organizational Application of the Document
The regulations published in La Gaceta state that the diplomatic passport is issued to facilitate the work of representing the State abroad and to request cooperation and protection from authorities in other countries during official missions.
Although holding this document does not automatically imply diplomatic immunity, it has long been linked to functions of state representation or to particular missions sanctioned by the government.
According to international relations experts repeatedly referenced by RCV, administrative procedures in many nations indicate that diplomatic passports are rescinded when an official’s term concludes, intended to ensure the document is not employed for private matters or beyond authorized functions.
By adding a lifetime clause, a new modality is introduced into how the document is administratively regulated within the Honduran state apparatus.
Request for Return and Administrative Tensions
Discussion over the regulations grew more intense after a statement released by the current Foreign Minister, Mireya de Agüero, in which former officials from the previous administration were instructed to return the diplomatic and official passports issued during that period.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has designated March 31 as the final date for delivering these documents to the Passport Unit, referring to the same regulation enacted in 2025.
However, the regulations outline clear exceptions: former officials granted the privilege of a lifetime diplomatic passport are exempt from returning it. This scenario has generated administrative tension, as the overall request to hand back these documents contrasts with the permanent benefit maintained by this particular group of former officials.
The timing of the regulation’s approval and the foreign minister’s subsequent departure to join the electoral race has also been highlighted in public debate. The agreement was signed on May 6, 2025, less than three weeks before the official’s resignation to join the political campaign linked to the LIBRE party.
Various analysts have interpreted this episode as part of a broader discussion on the relationship between public office and administrative privileges. The fact that the benefit is for life—that is, that it remains in effect even after the official ceases to exercise state responsibilities—raises questions about the limits of such provisions within public administration.
In a national landscape shaped by discussions on institutional framework, administrative transparency, and the use of public resources, the 2025 regulation has prompted renewed consideration of how diplomatic instruments fit into the temporary execution of state responsibilities. The matter has further revived questions about whether the benefits associated with public office ought to extend beyond the conclusion of a term or be confined exclusively to the time during which officials carry out their roles within the governmental system.
