Honduran President Xiomara Castro has launched a new offensive to crack down on violence that is bleeding blood through the Central American country and has left at least 21 dead in the past 24 hours. After a new massacre that killed 13 people was registered at a billiards hall in the Choloma sector of northern Honduras on Saturday, the President has imposed and announced a curfew in that city and in San Pedro Sula, the country’s main city A police operation that includes searches, arrests of possible criminals and roadblocks. Eight other people were killed in other crimes in the north of the country. The new measures come five days after 46 inmates were killed in a brawl between rival gang members at a prison. “I have taken steps to reassure them in the face of the brutal and ruthless terrorist attack they are being subjected to by hired thugs trained and directed by the leaders of the drug trade operating with impunity,” the president wrote in a series of statements to News, published on her Twitter profile this Sunday.
1/4 Sps and Choloma: I have taken measures to reassure them in the face of the brutal and ruthless terrorist attack they are being subjected to by hired thugs trained and directed by the drug lords who operate in the drug corridor with impunity. Sula Valley.
— Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (@XiomaraCastroZ) June 25, 2023
Saturday’s massacre took place in the Victoria area while the victims were celebrating a birthday. The Honduran press reported that gunmen entered the celebration and opened fire on the guests. Authorities claim at least 13 people died in the massacre. The bodies were transferred to the morgue in San Pedro Sula, the country’s largest city, where forensic scientists will conduct autopsies to identify the victims. Among them is Xiomara Cocas, president of an assembly company union.
Honduras is suffering a wave of violence that is claiming victims every day. In addition to the presence of the Mara Salvatrucha and Pandilla 18 gangs, which spread terror in the cities and maintain control of large areas, the Central American country suffers from the violence of organized crime, especially drug trafficking, whose groups consider the country an important center of operation and traffic. Authorities have denounced the control of these groups in the strategically important Sula Valley in northern Honduras, home to San Pedro Sula, considered one of the continent’s most violent cities. More than 80% of the country’s manufacturing and textile industries are located in this region.
President Castro this Sunday launched Operation Padlock Valle de Sula, as part of the security plan she called the “solution to crime and the state of emergency” that she had been implementing since November to achieve the restoration of gang-controlled areas. The operation will be led by Security Minister General Gustavo Sánchez, who will be assisted by senior military and police officials. “Several operations, raids, captures and checkpoints began 24 hours a day and resulted in a special curfew on Choloma for a period of 15 renewable days from that date,” Castro reported.
The President has also reported that authorities will pay a reward of 800,000 lempiras (about US$33,000) to those who facilitate the capture of “murderers in the Choloma massacres.” Ha also said he would announce new measures in the next few hours. “I ask for your cooperation in combating the crime that is taking place with impunity in Honduras,” urged the President.
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These new anti-crime measures come just five days after the massacre at a women’s prison north of Tegucigalpa that left 46 inmates murdered and several burned to death after an attack by members of the 18th gang against inmates from the Mara Salvatrucha began. Investigations indicate that a group of women threatened the Gang of 18 with large caliber weapons, reduced prison guards, attacked the cells in which their rivals were held and then set them on fire.
After deploring the massacre, President Castro reported that she would “take drastic action” in a context where her government had developed policies similar to those of its Salvadoran neighbor Nayib Bukele in dealing with gang violence. Castro announced a controversial security policy in November that includes partial states of emergency to fight crime in 120 communities where he has also deployed military and police forces to regain control of those areas, overriding citizens’ constitutional guarantees. “Shocked by the monstrous murder of women in Cefas, planned by gangs with the full visibility and patience of the security authorities.” My solidarity with the family. I invite the Minister of Security and the President of the Intervention Commission to give an account. I will take drastic measures!” the President said on Twitter after the massacre in the women’s prison.
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