Honduras marked National Tree Day on Saturday amid growing concerns over the future of its forests, as a new study warned that the country’s woodland cover could disappear within the next 21 years if current rates of deforestation continue.

The report, released by the Institute for Justice in partnership with the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ), projects that Honduras could lose all of its forests by 2045 if the average annual forest loss recorded between 2022 and 2024, estimated at 2.25%, remains unchanged.

“If we continue with the same forest loss trend observed from 2022 to 2024, Honduran forests will disappear in 21 years, by 2045,” the study states. It adds that if the longer-term trend recorded since 2013, averaging 0.66% annually, persists, the country’s forests could vanish by 2094.

Illegal and legal logging, forest fires, and pest infestations were identified as some of the main factors contributing to the degradation of thousands of hectares of forest across the Central American nation.

According to various sources cited in the report, between 60,000 and 80,000 hectares are affected by forest fires each year. Many of these blazes are believed to be human-caused, with the study estimating that eight out of every ten forest fires in Honduras result from deliberate actions.

The departments of Francisco Morazán, Olancho, and Colón were highlighted as the areas with the highest levels of logging activity. Large trucks transporting pine logs to sawmills are a common sight on major highways in these regions, while the harvesting of valuable hardwood species also continues to put pressure on forest resources.

The report comes as Honduras experiences one of its most severe wildfire seasons in recent years. Authorities attribute part of the increase in fires to extreme heat linked to climate change, with temperatures reaching as high as 42 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country.

Honduras covers approximately 112,492 square kilometers, with more than half of its territory classified as forested land, making forest conservation a critical environmental challenge for the nation.

U.S. authorities arrested an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on Friday in Texas after he was accused of shooting a Venezuelan migrant in Minnesota earlier this year and later providing false information about the incident.

The suspect, identified as Christian Castro, faces four counts of second-degree assault, along with an additional charge related to filing a false official report. He was taken into custody after investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension located him, according to a statement from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

The case stems from a January operation carried out by ICE during which Castro shot Julio César Sosa, a Venezuelan migrant, in the leg. Prosecutors allege that the agent later submitted a misleading account of the incident, claiming that Sosa and another migrant had attacked officers with a shovel and a broomstick.

However, investigators say that video evidence and further findings contradicted that version of events, leading to the dismissal of charges initially brought against the migrants by federal prosecutors.

ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, acknowledged in February that agents involved in the incident had given “false sworn testimony” about what occurred.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty described Friday’s arrest as a “critical step forward” in the judicial process and reaffirmed that the investigation remains ongoing.

Democratic Senator Rubén Gallego said on Friday in Madrid that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has an “obsession” with Cuba and suggested that the administration of President Donald Trump is determined to change the Cuban government by any means necessary.

Speaking in Spanish during a meeting with journalists at the Elcano Royal Institute for International and Strategic Studies, Gallego said he believes there could be an attempt to alter the Cuban government, potentially through military or other non-democratic means.

“I think there will be an attempt to change the government of Cuba, it could be through the military or in another way,” said Gallego, who is of Mexican-Colombian origin.

The Arizona senator argued that Cuba does not represent a threat to the United States, describing it as “a very poor island of nine million people.” However, he acknowledged the significant political influence of Cuban-Americans and of Secretary of State Marco Rubio within the current Trump administration.

Gallego also expressed opposition to U.S. military interventions aimed at overthrowing foreign governments, stating that such actions are unacceptable, particularly when their objective is regime change.

He noted that “almost 99% of Democrats” oppose any military intervention in Cuba.

The senator also referred to the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, stating that although Maduro is “a horrible and very corrupt man,” this does not justify overthrowing governments through force.

“If we start arguing that a president is a criminal, what prevents China from saying the same about Taiwan or other nations?” he warned.

Gallego further described the political transition process in Venezuela as a “failure,” arguing that little has changed in terms of governance outcomes.

“We went from one dictator to another, so from a geopolitical and strategic point of view it has been a failure, until we see whether Venezuela achieves a real democratic transition,” he said, referring to Maduro’s replacement by Delcy Rodríguez.