A devastating riot at a Honduran girls’s jail has reportedly led to the dying of 41 inmates.
Harrowingly, officers word that a lot of the victims had been burned to dying, and so they blame the tragedy on violence from highly effective gangs, aka maras.
26 Of The Victims Were Allegedly Burned To Death
According to AP News, the matter unfolded on Tuesday at a jail situated in Tamara, Honduras—about 20 miles northwest of the nation’s capital, Tegucigalpa.
Yuri Mora, a police spokesperson, reportedly declared, “The forensic teams that are removing bodies confirm they have counted 41.”
We ought to add that 26 of the victims had been burned to dying, and at the least seven inmates are getting medical therapy.
As for the reason for the violence, Julissa Villanueva—a director of the nation’s jail system—says it was a response to measures officers are “taking against organized crime” behind bars.
However, Villanueva declares, “We will not back down.”
Human rights knowledgeable Joaquin Mejia tells AP News {that a} crackdown on the problem of maras smuggling weapons—together with “grenades and firearms”—into prisons is one such measure. However, Mejia notes that the violent riot exhibits that such efforts have confirmed unsuccessful.
41 Women Shot, Stabbed, or Burned to Death in Honduras Prison Riot – President Blames Street Gang
At least seven inmates are additionally receiving therapy at a hospital in Tegucigalpa after 26 victims burned to dying with the rest killed from shot or stab wounds pic.twitter.com/5vRyaQyffs
— MOCez🇷🇺🇱🇾🇮🇶🇾🇪🇨🇳🇵🇰🇵🇸🇸🇾🇮🇳🇮🇷🇰🇵 (@Mousacisse1) June 21, 2023
The President Of Honduras Says The Riot Was “Planned By Maras“
Honduran President Xiomara Castro blames the lethal riot on violent gangs referred to as maras.
In reality, she proclaimed that the matter was “planned by maras with the knowledge and acquiescence of security authorities.”
For context, Bloomberg Línea particulars that the maras began as Central American avenue gangs within the U.S. throughout the Eighties. Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)—”one of many world’s most brutal avenue gangs,” per BBC News—is a widely known instance.
As Central American gang members started to be deported to their native international locations, they took the mara way of life with them. It finally unfold, and so they have “established themselves in northern Central America as an alternative power to the state.”
Ultimately, the current jail state of affairs leaves inmates’ family members worrying in regards to the well-being of their family members.
One mom, Azucena Martinez, stated she and different mother and father didn’t know if their kids had been useless or alive.
“There are a lot of dead, 41 already. We don’t know if our relatives are also in there, dead.”