The approval in 2025 of regulations on diplomatic and official passports by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has sparked a debate over the scope of privileges associated with public office in Honduras. The regulations established that former heads of the branches of government and former Foreign Ministry officials may retain diplomatic passports for life, a benefit that also extends to their spouses.
The provision was approved through Agreement No. 001-SG-2025, signed on May 6, 2025 by then-Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina García and subsequently published in the official gazette La Gaceta on June 14, 2025. The document establishes the rules for the issuance and use of diplomatic and official passports, which are intended to facilitate the international travel of officials on 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 describe the diplomatic passport as a document granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to officials performing official duties overseas, designed to ease their international travel and allow them to obtain diplomatic courtesies from other states.
Nevertheless, Article 13 of the regulations sets out a particular clause indicating 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 those who could benefit from this provision are former President Xiomara Castro, former President of the National Congress Luis Redondo, and 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 received approval several weeks prior to Reina submitted his resignation on May 27, 2025, at which point he revealed his involvement in the electoral race as a vice-presidential contender on the slate led by Rixi Moncada, a representative of the LIBRE party.
Diplomatic Role and Organizational Application of the Document
According to the regulations released in La Gaceta, the diplomatic passport is granted to support the performance of representing the State overseas and to seek assistance and safeguards from authorities in foreign nations while carrying out official assignments.
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 cited on several occasions by RCV, administrative practice in various countries stipulates that diplomatic passports are revoked once the term of office ends, with the aim of preventing the document from being used for personal purposes or outside the scope of official duties.
By adding a lifetime clause, a new modality is introduced into how the document is administratively regulated within the Honduran state apparatus.
Petition for Reinstatement and Managerial Strains
The debate surrounding the regulations intensified following a statement issued by the current Foreign Minister, Mireya de Agüero, in which former officials of the previous administration were asked to return the diplomatic and official passports issued during that administration.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs set a deadline of March 31 for the surrender of these documents to the Passport Unit, citing the same regulation approved in 2025.
However, the regulations provide for explicit exceptions: former officials who hold the privilege of a lifetime diplomatic passport are not required to return them. This situation has created administrative tension, since while the general return of the documents is being requested, a specific group of former officials retains the benefit permanently.
The timing surrounding the regulation’s approval and the foreign minister’s later decision to step into the electoral race has also drawn attention in public discussions. The agreement was finalized on May 6, 2025, less than three weeks before the official stepped down to join the political campaign associated with the LIBRE party.
Various analysts have viewed this episode as contributing to a wider debate over the relationship between public office and administrative privileges, and the lifelong nature of the benefit—remaining valid even after the official no longer performs state duties—has prompted renewed scrutiny of how far such provisions should extend 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.
