Hondurasgate is the name given to a series of alleged leaks of audio conversations between right-wing political figures in Honduras—including former President Juan Orlando Hernández and current President Nasry Asfura—that purportedly reveal an international plan to launch media attacks against leftist politicians and governments in Honduras and other Latin American countries. The audios also allegedly implicate the involvement of political actors from the United States and Israel to influence the political situation in Honduras.^[1] These were published in April 2026 by the website hondurasgate.ch and the leftist media outlet Canal Red.

In July 2025, a 25-second alleged leaked audio circulated on social media featuring the presiding counselor of the National Electoral Council of Honduras (CNE), Cosette López, speaking about the approval of the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission (TREP) system. One of the disseminators of the audio was a fake page impersonating the media outlet Radio Cadena Voces.^[2] Later, on November 29 of the same year, Attorney General Johel Zelaya publicly exposed a series of 24 audios that again involved López and other actors in a plan to boycott the future general elections and force a rerun. The audios were delivered to the Public Ministry on a USB flash drive by Marlon Ochoa, a CNE counselor chosen by the leftist Liberty and Refoundation party, and were disclosed without an authentication process.^[3]Both officials, Marlon Ochoa and Johel Zelaya, were subsequently removed from their positions in impeachment trials due to questioning of their actions. López's defense requested that the Public Ministry conduct an expert analysis of said audios to verify their authenticity. The request was rejected because López was not listed as a defendant in the case pursued by the Public Ministry.^[4]

Shortly before the elections, former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2024 for drug trafficking offenses, was pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump, being released on December 1. Following this, on December 16, the Public Ministry again released three audios concerning a Honduran "former president"—who resembled Juan Orlando Hernández—giving instructions to declare Nasry Asfura, of the same political party as Hernández, as the winner of the elections. The audios were received via Twitter.^[5]

In late April 2026, the portal hondurasgate.ch^[6] along with the leftist media outlet Canal Red^[7] disseminated 37 audios, dated between January and April 2026, in which a voice identified as Hernández's claims that his release was achieved through the mediation of the Israeli government and money provided by a "board of rabbis."^[8]

The authenticity of the audios has not been verified by an independent technical analysis.^{[9][AI-retrieved source]} The site hondurasgate.ch states that they were obtained by anonymous sources and published by "Honduran journalists who for security reasons will remain anonymous," in collaboration with Canal Red.

According to the disseminating portal, the original audios were converted to OGG/OPUS format to undergo automated forensic analysis using the tool Phonexia Voice Inspector—from the Czech company Phonexia^[10]—which allegedly analyzed more than 25 acoustic, biometric, and prosodic indicators, concluding that the audios are real human voices, with less than a 10% probability of being audios created with AI. The site makes available the original OGG audios, as well as a dossier explaining the analysis process for each audio, which includes the calculated hashes of the OGG audios as a measure to verify if they are subsequently altered.^[11]

Following the dissemination of the audios, the National Congress of Honduras approved a request to the Public Ministry to conduct a forensic expert analysis of them with independent national and international experts from Chile and the United States. The request asks that the American forensic laboratories have international certification and technical recognition by agencies such as the DEA or the FBI.^[12]

The audios are fragments of conversations of people identified by the website as Romeo Vásquez Velásquez—former military officer and former right-wing presidential candidate—, Jorge Cálix—deputy of the Liberal Party—, and Nationalists Juan Orlando Hernández—former President of the Republic—, Nasry Asfura—President—, Tomás Zambrano—President of the National Congress—, Cosette López—counselor of the National Electoral Council—, María Antonieta Mejía—Vice President— and David Matamoros—former magistrate of the defunct Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

The audios supposedly reveal an international plan to restore Hernández to power and promote the Zones for Employment and Economic Development (ZEDEs),^[13] fulfilling the deal Hernández allegedly made with Trump in exchange for his release.^[14] The ZEDEs would function as points for U.S. investment in Roatán and Comayagua. According to the recordings, Hernández seeks to have the government of Honduras "return to the right hands," being supported by Trump.

The plan supposedly includes the use of evangelical churches so that "people forget the past," according to instructions given by Hernández to Tomás Zambrano. At the same time, the plot contemplates the expansion of the U.S. military presence in strategic points of Honduras,^[15] such as the José Enrique Soto Cano Air Base. Likewise, President Asfura allegedly agreed to hand over key projects, such as the interoceanic train, to companies like General Electric.

In the international sphere, Hondurasgate allegedly describes a strategy to affect the stability of the governments of Sheinbaum in Mexico and Petro in Colombia. Hernández reportedly requested funds to establish a "digital journalism unit"^[16] based in the United States to disseminate "dossiers" on the Sheinbaum and Petro administrations without the operations being traceable back to Honduras. The audios indicate that the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, contributed $350,000 for the formation of this communications team.^[17]

The government of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel would also be involved, according to the audios, by providing a legal framework in Honduras "that favors artificial intelligence companies from the United States and Israel."

Former President Hernández called Hondurasgate "ridiculous," adding: "Using the same old tactics, the radical left with its international ideological partners seeks to spread lies as truth. [...] The same tactic of fake audios they used to try to steal the 2025 elections." For his part, the President of the National Congress, Tomás Zambrano wrote:^[18]

I had not wanted to officially refer to the subject of the false audios that the international left connection has been disseminating in social networks and related media. For all Hondurans who for years have listened to us in interviews, forums, and speeches, it is evident that those voices are not ours. [...] However, to put an end to this ridicule and prevent them from continuing to distract us from the real problems of Honduras, the National Congress has just approved the sending of these audios to specialized laboratories in the United States.[...]

On the other hand, the presidents of Mexico and Colombia questioned the intentions behind the alleged strategy against their governments:^{[citation needed]}

They can set up an office for dirty campaigns against our government in Honduras. [...] There will be no dent, there will be nothing

What reason does Mr. Netanyahu have to pay to release a major drug trafficker, former president of Honduras, solely for the purpose of destroying the government of Colombia and Mexico?

   Fake news

   Deepfake

   Operation Condor

   hondurasgate.ch, disseminator of the original material.