TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A grisly riot at a women’s prison in Honduras on Tuesday killed at least 41 women, most of them burned to death. The country’s president blamed it on “Mara” street gangs, which often wield far-reaching power in prisons.
Most of the victims suffered burns, but there were also reports of inmates being shot or stabbed at the prison in Tamara, about 50 kilometers northwest of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, said Yuri Mora, spokesman for the Honduras National Police Investigation Agency.
At least seven female inmates were treated for gunshot and knife wounds at a hospital in Tegucigalpa, staff there said.
“The forensic teams removing bodies confirm they counted 41,” Mora said.
Local media interviewed an injured inmate outside the hospital, who said prisoners from the feared Barrio-18 gang broke into a cell block and shot other inmates or set them on fire.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro said the uprising was “planned by Maras with the knowledge and connivance of the security authorities.”
“I will take drastic action!” Castro wrote on her social media accounts.
Dozens of worried, angry relatives gathered in front of the prison; is located in a rural area about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the capital.
“We are dying here of fear, of pain … we have no information,” said Salomón García, whose daughter is being held at the facility.
Julissa Villanueva, head of the country’s prison system, suspected the uprising began because of authorities’ recent attempts to crack down on illegal activity in prisons, and on Tuesday described the violence as a response to measures “we are taking against organized crime”.
“We will not back down,” Villanueva said in a televised address after the uprising.
Gangs exercise widespread control in the country’s prisons, where inmates often set their own rules and sell illicit goods.
The riot appears to be the worst tragedy at a women’s prison in Central America since 2017, when girls set mattresses on fire at a shelter for needy youth in Guatemala to protest rape and other abuses at the severely overcrowded facility. The resulting smoke and fire killed 41 girls.
The worst prison disaster in a century also happened in Honduras in 2012 at Comayagua prison, where 361 inmates died in a fire possibly started by a match, cigarette or other open flame.
Tuesday’s uprising could increase pressure on Honduras to emulate drastic zero-tolerance and privilege prisons set up in neighboring El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele. While El Salvador’s crackdown on gangs has resulted in rights abuses, it has also proved hugely popular in a country long terrorized by street gangs.