Tegucigalpa, Dec 28 (EFE).- Honduras will open in 2023 four more consulates in the United States, one of the countries where the most Honduran immigrants reside, and one in Spain, the vice chancellor for Consular and Immigration Affairs, Tony García, reported this Wednesday.
“We are going to have one in Phoenix, Arizona. We will have a new one in Denver, in Orlando and we are looking at the other if in Pennsylvania or a second in Virginia”, Garcia said.
The diplomat also announced that the Honduran consulate in Washington will be moved to Alexandria, Virginia.
The transfer is due to the fact that “in Washington there are very few Hondurans and the rent is quite expensive, it will be 25 minutes from Washington,” García explained.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Honduras has 14 consulates in the United States, where a little more than a million Hondurans live, including legal and undocumented residents.
García indicated that Honduras will also open a consulate in the city of Girona, Spain, next year.
“Girona is the city that has the most Hondurans per capita in all of Spain,” he added.
The Honduran government will also increase its staff at consulates, from nine to 14 people.
84.3% of the remittances received by Honduras were sent by compatriots living in the United States and 9.9% in Spain, according to official data.
The majority of households that receive this money in Honduras, a country with 9.5 million inhabitants, use it mainly to pay for food, health services and education, the Central Bank said.
They represent around 20% of the Honduran gross domestic product (GDP) and have become one of the main livelihoods of many Honduran families.
Remittances are the country’s main source of foreign currency, above exports such as coffee, maquila products, shrimp and others, according to the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH).
