Honduras Announces New Anti-Gang Measures

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Facts

  • Xiomara Castro, the leftist president of Honduras, has announced in a televised address a series of emergency measures to expand her government's larger crackdown on gang violence.1
  • Her 'plan of solutions against crime' includes the deployment of armed forces and police to areas with the highest rates of gang crimes, as well as the construction of the Emergency Reclusion Center, a new 20K-capacity 'megaprison.'2
  • This comes a little less than a year after Honduras put forward a plan to build the only island penal colony in the Western Hemisphere in the wake of a massacre at a female prison following clashes between rival gangs.3
  • Additionally, government leaders have called for Honduras' Congress to reform the penal code to allow gang members who commit specific crimes to be designated as terrorists and face collective trials.4
  • The country has been in a state of emergency since Dec. 2022, with some constitutional rights suspended in a bid to tackle crime attributed to gangs. Last year, Honduras's homicide rate was 34 per 100K — nearly six times the global average.5
  • Security Minister Gustavo Sánchez said last week that the country had seen a 20% drop in homicides in the first five months of 2024 compared with the same period last year.6

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2Al Jazeera, 3Verity, 4Reuters, 5Dw.Com and 6The Times.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Financial Times. Regardless of their ideologies, several governments across Latin America have sought to replicate the unique success of Nayib Bukele's authoritarian anti-crime push in El Salvador — and neighboring Honduras is no exception. The problem is that his policies are feasible in his country only, a small nation where drug-related crimes are relatively rare.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Voz Media. It's certain that the success of Bukele's security model in El Salvador serves as an example to the rest of Latin America, but mainstream media seems to be condescendingly painting any attempt to crack down on gangs in the region as 'bukelization.' Honduras has carried out its own policies — and maybe that's why it didn't achieve the same results.

Predictions