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 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 issue has regained prominence following a recent statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting that former officials return these documents, a situation that has brought the scope of the exceptions included in the regulations to the forefront of the debate.
Scope of the Benefit for 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 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 extends to former officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Enrique Reina himself, as well as former Deputy Foreign Ministers Gerardo Torres, Cindy Larissa Rodríguez, and Zulmit Solemit Rivera Zúniga. According to the regulations, this privilege also extends to their spouses, broadening the scope of the benefit beyond those who directly held 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 Function and Institutional Use 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 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
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 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.
