With assault rifles in hand, members of the gendarmerie (PMOP) patrolled yesterday in 4×4 vehicles in the Colonia Villanueva neighborhood, where in some houses you can see makeshift fortifications to protect the occupants from the violence of the maras, which terrorize the Honduran population.
More than 200 police officers were deployed on Wednesday to a poor neighborhood in the eastern part of the Honduran capital, where members of the “maras”, the gangs that plague Tegucigalpa, chased residents away with threats to take their homes, authorities said.
With assault rifles in hand, members of the Gendarmerie (PMOP) patrolled yesterday in 4×4 vehicles in the Colonia Villanueva district, where in some houses you can see makeshift fortifications to protect the occupants from the violence of the maras, which terrorize the Honduran and neighboring states of Central America, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Police were checking and searching cars driving through the neighborhood and asking suspects to remove their shirts or blouses to check for tattoos, a hallmark of gang members, AFP reporters found.
“Citizens notified (the authorities) that they were forced to leave their homes due to threats” from gang members, the Honduran authorities said, adding that in response they mobilized “more than 200” members of the PMOP.
Videos released yesterday on social networking sites showed residents loading their belongings into trucks and leaving their homes after the “mareros” gave them just hours to leave.
The gendarmerie men were ordered to arrest “members of the maras who intimidate the residents,” according to the authorities’ statement.
Police officers will remain “permanently” in the area, according to the same source.
The gangs that plague northern Central America are mainly two, Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). They were born in the 1980s in the neighborhoods of Los Angeles (California). They spread to the countries of origin of their members after the mass deportations carried out by the US authorities.
Maras, like drug cartels, terrorize much of the population in the three countries of the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America. In recent years, the three states have been among the most dangerous in the world, excluding only war zones.
In Honduras in the first six months of the year, more than 2,400 murders were committed, according to Migdonia Ayestas, the director of the Violence Observatory.
With a population of 10 million citizens, Honduras saw its first half homicide rate reach 18.47 and is expected to close 2022 with this rate reaching 37 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants (will be markedly reduced from 2021, when it reached 42/100,000 inhabitants).
In neighboring El Salvador, President Naguib Bukele is breaking popularity records thanks to his “war” on gangs. Within eight months, more than 56,600 alleged Mareros were arrested, adding to the approximately 16,000 suspects already incarcerated.
To deal with the problem of a huge overpopulation of prisoners created by the campaign of mass arrests, the Salvadoran authorities are building a gigantic prison, with a capacity of 40,000 places.
RES-EMP
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I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
