DistantNews
Support us
🇭🇳 Honduras /Elections & Politics

Lawmakers denounce Congress move granting major telecom companies an amnesty previously rejected

From Proceso Digital · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Approved/passed
  • Honduras’ National Congress approved a reconsideration motion that included Tigo and Claro in a telecommunications amnesty promoted by Conatel.
  • The measure would create a special process to regularize unpaid obligations and grant amnesty for debts accumulated from fiscal year 2014 through 2024.
  • Opposition lawmaker Carlos Umaña called the reconsideration procedurally improper and said he voted against it.

Honduras’ National Congress has been accused of using a reconsideration motion to grant Tigo and Claro an amnesty that the full chamber had previously rejected.

The motion was presented by congressional secretary Carlos Ledezma. Reading the revised language, Ledezma said the change would correct inconsistencies in Decree 172-2026 and clarify a special process for regularizing telecommunications operators’ financial obligations. The measure concerns the monthly contribution of 1% of operators’ gross income and would cover unpaid balances accumulated from fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2024.

The text also provides an amnesty for those debts. Ledezma said the reconsideration had been approved despite objections from several lawmakers. The move again exempts mobile telephone companies from paying fines, according to Carlos Umaña, a congressman from Cortés.

This reconsideration is improper and procedurally unviable at this point, since the decree had already been voted on by the chamber and these companies were not granted that right. I record that lawmakers were not allowed to speak, and the session was suspended

· Carlos UmañaHe criticized the procedure used to reconsider the telecommunications amnesty.

Umaña said the motion had been presented during the Sept. 1 session shortly before it was suspended. He called it “improper and procedurally unviable,” arguing that the decree had already been voted on and that the companies had not been granted the right to reconsideration. He also said lawmakers had not been allowed to speak before the session was suspended.

“My vote is logically against it, and I leave a historical record of this,” Umaña said. Congress had approved the telecommunications amnesty on Aug. 19. The measure was intended to regularize debts and allow telecommunications operators to settle their obligations, but the reconsideration brought renewed criticism over the inclusion of the country’s major mobile phone companies.

My vote is logically against it, and I leave a historical record of this

· Carlos UmañaHe stated his opposition to the measure.
About this summary

Originally published by Proceso Digital in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog