Honduras to build 20,000-inmate ‘megaprison’ as part of gang crackdown
6 months, 3 weeks ago

Honduras to build 20,000-inmate ‘megaprison’ as part of gang crackdown

Al Jazeera  

President Xiomara Castro says new measures including ‘terrorist’ designations for gang members are in response to public complaints about rising violence. In a late-night televised address to the nation, President Xiomara Castro said on Friday the “plan of solutions against crime” was in response to a “security emergency” and public complaints about increasing violence. Flanked by members of Honduras’s National Defense and Security Council, Castro said the armed forces and police should be deployed to “urgently execute interventions across parts of the country with the highest incidences of gang crimes, such as murders for hire, drug and firearm trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and money laundering”. Prominent global human rights group Amnesty International has previously warned that the heavy-handed security measures introduced to tackle gang violence “have triggered a spike in abuses and deaths” and put “everybody in danger”.

Security Measures Castro Honduras Gang Crackdown  crime  gang  crackdown  members  president  castro  xiomara  build  megaprison  security  measures  emergency  terrorist  honduras  20000inmate

History of this topic

Haiti's insecurity is worsening as gangs seize more territory, UN rights expert says
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Haiti's insecurity is worsening as gangs seize more territory, UN rights expert says

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A U.N. human rights expert …

Attempted prison escape in Honduras leaves 2 inmates dead and 3 injured
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Attempted prison escape in Honduras leaves 2 inmates dead and 3 injured

Associated Press  

MEXICO CITY — An attempted prison break early Thursday in Honduras left two inmates dead and three injured, authorities said. According to officials, a total of 72 prisoners took part in the attempted escape from the men’s prison in the town of Tamara, about 19 miles from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. The carnage led to calls for change to …

Human rights body urges El Salvador to end state of emergency
4 months ago

Human rights body urges El Salvador to end state of emergency

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urged El Salvador Wednesday to end the more than two-year state of emergency, which has suspended fundamental civil rights while the government pursued the country’s powerful street gangs. The regional human rights body noted that plunging rates of violence in El Salvador made clear that the state of emergency …

Children victimized in El Salvador’s anti-gang crackdown, rights group alleges
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Children victimized in El Salvador’s anti-gang crackdown, rights group alleges

LA Times  

Thousands of poverty-stricken children in El Salvador have suffered arbitrary detention, torture and other abuse as part of President Nayib Bukele’s “war on gangs,” Human Rights Watch said in a report released Tuesday. “Many have been convicted on overly broad charges and in unfair trials that deny due process,” according to the report, which Human Rights Watch says is based …

US sanctions a Venezuela gang for spreading criminal activity across Latin America
5 months, 4 weeks ago

US sanctions a Venezuela gang for spreading criminal activity across Latin America

Associated Press  

MIAMI — The Biden administration on Thursday sanctioned a Venezuelan gang allegedly behind a spree of kidnappings, extortion and other violent crimes tied to migrants that have spread across Latin America and the United States. The U.S. also offered a $12 million reward for the arrest of three leaders of Tren de Aragua, which now joins the MS-13 gang from …

U.S. sanctions Venezuela gang for spreading criminal activity across Latin America
6 months ago

U.S. sanctions Venezuela gang for spreading criminal activity across Latin America

LA Times  

Millions of Venezuelans have fled the presidency of Nicolas Maduro, shown at a campaign rally in Caracas on Monday. “Tren de Aragua poses a deadly criminal threat across the region,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement, adding that it often preys on vulnerable populations such as migrant women and girls for sex trafficking. “The Tren de Aragua is …

Honduras plans to build a 20,000-capacity ‘megaprison’ for gang members as part of a crackdown
6 months, 3 weeks ago

Honduras plans to build a 20,000-capacity ‘megaprison’ for gang members as part of a crackdown

Associated Press  

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The president of Honduras has announced the creation of a new 20,000-capacity “megaprison,” part of the government’s larger crackdown on gang violence and efforts to overhaul its long-troubled prison system. President Xiomara Castro unveiled a series of emergency measures in a nationally televised address early Saturday, including plans to strengthen the military’s role in fighting organized crime, …

Ecuador rights abuses under state of 'armed conflict': HRW
7 months, 2 weeks ago

Ecuador rights abuses under state of 'armed conflict': HRW

Hindustan Times  

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa to reverse his declaration of a state of "internal armed conflict" in the gang-violence torn country, saying it had opened the door to rights abuses. Ecuador rights abuses under state of 'armed conflict': HRW Despite Noboa's efforts to reduce violence blamed on an escalating war between rival gangs, the security …

At least 241 people have died in El Salvador’s prisons during the ‘war on gangs,’ rights group says
9 months, 1 week ago

At least 241 people have died in El Salvador’s prisons during the ‘war on gangs,’ rights group says

New Indian Express  

SAN SALVADOR: At least 241 people have died in El Salvador prisons since the start of President Nayib Bukele’s “war on gangs” two years ago, according to the organization Humanitarian Legal Relief. In March 2022, Bukele announced a “state of exception,” waiving many constitutional rights to combat the gangs that have terrorized the Central American nation. Since then, El Salvador …

At least 241 people have died in El Salvador’s prisons during the ‘war on gangs,’ rights group says
9 months, 1 week ago

At least 241 people have died in El Salvador’s prisons during the ‘war on gangs,’ rights group says

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR — At least 241 people have died in El Salvador prisons since the start of President Nayib Bukele’s “war on gangs” two years ago, according to the organization Humanitarian Legal Relief. According to the NGO report, “of these deaths, 44% died of violent death, serious torture, 29% due to lack of medical attention.” While the government is accused …

Haiti now needs up to 5,000 police to help tackle `catastrophic’ gang violence , UN expert says
9 months, 1 week ago

Haiti now needs up to 5,000 police to help tackle `catastrophic’ gang violence , UN expert says

Associated Press  

UNITED NATIONS — Haiti now needs between 4,000 and 5,000 international police to help tackle “catastrophic” gang violence which is targeting key individuals and hospitals, schools, banks and other critical institutions, the U.N. rights expert for the conflict-wracked Caribbean nation said Thursday. O’Neill spoke at a news conference launching a U.N. Human Rights Office report he helped produce which called …

El Salvador’s president jailed 1% of the population. Their children are paying the price
10 months, 3 weeks ago

El Salvador’s president jailed 1% of the population. Their children are paying the price

LA Times  

A family member shows a phone photo of Juana Guadalupe Recinos Ventura, who was detained in June 2022 during El Salvador’s crackdown on drugs. “I’m scared, feeling like they could come and they could take away someone else in my family.” Forty thousand children have seen one parent or both detained in President Nayib Bukele’s nearly two-year war on El …

Venezuela orders UN human rights office to close, accusing it of anti-government activity
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Venezuela orders UN human rights office to close, accusing it of anti-government activity

Associated Press  

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s government on Thursday ordered the local United Nations office on human rights to suspend operations and gave its staff 72 hours to leave, accusing it of assisting coup plotters and terrorist groups. Gil said the local technical advisory office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, authorized in 2019, was supposed “to improve, to optimize,” …

No ‘clear way out’: How Ecuador descended into gang violence
10 months, 4 weeks ago

No ‘clear way out’: How Ecuador descended into gang violence

Al Jazeera  

Experts trace the root causes of Ecuador’s spiralling violence, as President Daniel Noboa leads a crackdown on gangs. “Ecuador is a small country in a violent neighbourhood, and it’s become a key part of global narco-trafficking networks,” said Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based think tank. As Ecuador’s prominence in …

The president jailed 1 per cent of El Salvador''s population. Their children are paying the consequences
11 months ago

The president jailed 1 per cent of El Salvador''s population. Their children are paying the consequences

Hindustan Times  

Santa Ana, Feb 10 Tears welled in Alex's eyes and he pressed his head into his hands as he thought about more than a year of birthdays and holidays without his mother, who was swept up by El Salvador's police as she walked to work in a clothing factory. “I'm scared, feeling like they could come and they could take …

Armed gang storms Ecuador TV studio after state of emergency declared
1 year ago

Armed gang storms Ecuador TV studio after state of emergency declared

Al Jazeera  

A live broadcast by Ecuadorean television station TC was interrupted by a group of armed people who forced staff to lie and sit on the floor, as shots and yelling were heard. The country’s president has declared 22 gangs as terrorist organisations and said that the country is in a state of “internal armed conflict”. “Extremely concerned by today’s violence …

The state of exception in Honduras is endangering innocent lives
1 year, 1 month ago

The state of exception in Honduras is endangering innocent lives

Al Jazeera  

When Honduran President Xiomara Castro was elected in November 2021 after running on an anticorruption platform and promising to tackle the country’s disastrous human rights record and sky-high homicide and extortion rates, hopes ran high. In December 2022, less than a year after taking office as Honduras’s first woman president, Castro declared a state of exception covering parts of the …

El Salvador is seeing worst rights abuses since 1980-1992 civil war, Amnesty reports
1 year, 1 month ago

El Salvador is seeing worst rights abuses since 1980-1992 civil war, Amnesty reports

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador is experiencing one of the worst human rights crises since the country’s 1980-1992 civil war, because of President Nayib Bukele ’s harsh anti-gang crackdown, Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday. The rights group claimed that the almost 74,000 people jailed in the crackdown were subjected to “systematic use of torture and …

Growing gang violence is devastating Haitians, with major crime at a new high, UN envoy says
1 year, 2 months ago

Growing gang violence is devastating Haitians, with major crime at a new high, UN envoy says

Associated Press  

UNITED NATIONS — Growing gang violence in Haiti is devastating the lives of its people, with major crimes rising to a new high, the U.N. special envoy for the conflict-wracked Caribbean nations said Monday. Between April 24 and Sept. 30, she said, the U.N. political mission “registered the lynching of at least 395 alleged gang members across all 10 departments …

Growing gang violence is devastating Haitians, with major crime at a new high, UN envoy says
1 year, 2 months ago

Growing gang violence is devastating Haitians, with major crime at a new high, UN envoy says

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Growing gang violence in Haiti …

El Salvador is gradually filling its new mega prison with alleged gang members
1 year, 2 months ago

El Salvador is gradually filling its new mega prison with alleged gang members

Associated Press  

TECOLUCA, El Salvador — With tattoo-covered faces, and wearing white shirts and shorts, gang members captured during El Salvador’s state of exception are gradually filling the country’s new mega prison. President Nayib Bukele ordered its construction when El Salvador began making massive arrests early last year in response to a surge in gang violence. Melvin Alexander Alvarado, a 34-year-old “soldier” …

El Salvador is gradually filling its new mega prison with alleged gang members
1 year, 2 months ago

El Salvador is gradually filling its new mega prison with alleged gang members

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy With tattoo-covered faces, and wearing …

El Salvador sends 4,000 security forces into 3 communities to pursue gang members
1 year, 2 months ago

El Salvador sends 4,000 security forces into 3 communities to pursue gang members

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador sent more than 4,000 security forces into three communities on the outskirts of the capital to root out gang members Wednesday, as President Nayib Bukele prepared to request another extension of emergency powers to combat crime. “We won’t allow small remnants to regroup and take away the peace that has cost so much.” …

El Salvador's leader, criticized internationally for gang crackdown, tells UN it was the right thing
1 year, 3 months ago

El Salvador's leader, criticized internationally for gang crackdown, tells UN it was the right thing

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy El Salvador President Nayib Bukele …

Rights group urges rapid international intervention to end spiraling gang violence in Haiti
1 year, 4 months ago

Rights group urges rapid international intervention to end spiraling gang violence in Haiti

Associated Press  

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A human rights group urged the international community on Monday to intervene quickly to end spiraling violence by gangs in Haiti as it detailed the brutal rapes and killings committed in the troubled nation’s capital. “The longer that we wait and don’t have this response, we’re going to see more Haitians being killed, raped and …

Leader of Ecuadorian crime gang moved to maximum-security prison days after candidate’s killing
1 year, 4 months ago

Leader of Ecuadorian crime gang moved to maximum-security prison days after candidate’s killing

Associated Press  

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — Authorities moved the leader of one of Ecuador’s most powerful gangs into a maximum-security prison Saturday, three days after the assassination of a presidential candidate who had denounced threats from the feared criminal. President Guillermo Lasso said the relocation of Los Choneros leader Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” was meant “for the safety of citizens and detainees.” The …

Could El Salvador’s gang crackdown spread across Latin America?
1 year, 5 months ago

Could El Salvador’s gang crackdown spread across Latin America?

Al Jazeera  

A harsh crackdown on gangs has brought Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele popularity, but experts say the cost is steep. “When massive rights violations become commonplace, it’s very rare for this to result in lasting peace,” said Noah Bullock, executive director of the Salvadoran rights group Cristosal, which has monitored rights violations under the state of exception. “The magnitude of the …

El Salvador’s Congress votes to allow mass trials in gang crackdown
1 year, 5 months ago

El Salvador’s Congress votes to allow mass trials in gang crackdown

Al Jazeera  

El Salvador’s justice minister says up to 900 alleged gang members could be prosecuted at once under the new law. El Salvador’s Congress has approved group trials for the tens of thousands of people arrested during President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on criminal gangs, which has given the country one of the world’s highest incarceration rates. Wednesday’s legislation will allow prosecutors …

Honduras wants to build West’s only island prison colony and lock gangsters inside
1 year, 5 months ago

Honduras wants to build West’s only island prison colony and lock gangsters inside

Associated Press  

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras plans to build the only island prison colony in the Western Hemisphere and send its most-feared gangsters there, tearing a page from neighboring El Salvador’s unforgiving approach to murder, robbery, rape and extortion. “A new prison is quite useless if you don’t first regain control of the others you already have,” said Tiziano Breda, a Latin …

Honduras to build island colony to imprison gang members
1 year, 5 months ago

Honduras to build island colony to imprison gang members

Al Jazeera  

Officials hope the isolated facility will cut gang members off from criminal networks on the mainland. “A new prison is quite useless if you don’t first regain control of the others you already have,” said Tiziano Breda, a Latin America expert at Italy’s Istituto Affari Internazionali. “It’s the farthest away they can possibly be, so these gang leaders feel the …

Haiti human rights group warns kidnappings and killings are on the rise after a brief respite
1 year, 5 months ago

Haiti human rights group warns kidnappings and killings are on the rise after a brief respite

Associated Press  

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A leading human rights group in Haiti warned about an upsurge in killings and kidnappings as the U.N. Security Council met Friday to discuss the country’s worsening violence. Earlier this year, the human rights group said that kidnappings and killings had diminished amid a violent uprising targeting suspected gang members, but noted that gangs have …

Honduras copies El Salvador’s playbook in anti-gang crackdown
1 year, 6 months ago

Honduras copies El Salvador’s playbook in anti-gang crackdown

Associated Press  

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A crackdown in Honduras on gangs in the nation’s prisons is eerily similar to one carried out last year in neighboring El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele, observers said Tuesday. “It’s the same phenomenon,” said retired police commissioner Henry Osorto, but added that the crackdowns should be scrutinized to see whether “standards and international treaties are being …

Honduras copies El Salvador's playbook in anti-gang crackdown
1 year, 6 months ago

Honduras copies El Salvador's playbook in anti-gang crackdown

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Observers said Tuesday that a …

Guns, grenades and deadly riots: The struggle for control of some of Central America’s most notorious prisons
1 year, 6 months ago

Guns, grenades and deadly riots: The struggle for control of some of Central America’s most notorious prisons

The Independent  

It is one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence Honduras has faced within its long-troubled prison system. Such violence is an issue that has plagued the Honduras prison system for two decades and beyond – with the National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras calling on authorities to step up their efforts to try and contain gangs, who control many …

More than 40 women killed in Honduran prison riot
1 year, 6 months ago

More than 40 women killed in Honduran prison riot

Al Jazeera  

A grisly riot at a women’s prison in Honduras on Tuesday has left at least 41 women dead in an outburst of violence that the country’s president blamed on “mara” street gangs that often wield broad power inside penitentiaries. — Xiomara Castro de Zelaya June 20, 2023 Local media interviewed one injured inmate outside the hospital who said prisoners belonging …

Amnesty report finds racial bias in Peru’s protest crackdown
1 year, 7 months ago

Amnesty report finds racial bias in Peru’s protest crackdown

Al Jazeera  

The report comes as Peru declares Mexican President Lopez Obrador a ‘persona non grata’ after he criticised the protest response. Almost all of them were from poor, Indigenous and campesino backgrounds, suggesting a racial and socioeconomic bias in the use of lethal force.” The report is the latest to find that Peru’s government wielded disproportionate violence and targeted people from …

‘Rights crisis’: Amnesty report documents abuses in Nicaragua
1 year, 8 months ago

‘Rights crisis’: Amnesty report documents abuses in Nicaragua

Al Jazeera  

The government of President Daniel Ortega has been criticised for targeting dissidents and consolidating power. The human rights organisation Amnesty International has warned that the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo is deepening repression in the Central American state. “We’ve shown the continuum of repression to which Nicaraguan society has been subjected and the different …

El Salvador committing ‘systematic’ abuses in gang purge: Amnesty
1 year, 9 months ago

El Salvador committing ‘systematic’ abuses in gang purge: Amnesty

Al Jazeera  

Government has committed abuses such as torture, enforced disappearances in year-long gang crackdown, rights group says. Authorities in El Salvador have committed “systematic” human rights abuses since launching a nationwide state of emergency last year to tackle gang violence, including torture and enforced disappearances, Amnesty International said. The rights group said on Monday that the Salvadoran government’s “state of exception” …

El Salvador marks its first year under anti-gang crackdown
1 year, 9 months ago

El Salvador marks its first year under anti-gang crackdown

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — The Central American nation of El Salvador marked a full year Monday under anti-gang emergency measures that were originally supposed to last only a month. Recalling last March 27 when the last homicide wave occurred, Bukele wrote in his Twitter account “that was one of the most difficult days of my life.” Referring to police …

War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep
1 year, 9 months ago

War on gangs forges new El Salvador. But the price is steep

Associated Press  

SOYAPANGO, El Salvador — For the family of 44-year-old Maritza Pacheco, opening a corner shop outside their home four months ago was a small miracle. But over the past year, El Salvador has undergone a radical transformation since President Nayib Bukele – the self-described “world’s coolest dictator” – suspended constitutional rights and started an all-out offensive on the gangs. “And …

El Salvador's congress extends anti-gang crackdown
1 year, 9 months ago

El Salvador's congress extends anti-gang crackdown

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy El Salvador’s congress has voted …

El Salvador extends emergency powers in year-long gang crackdown
1 year, 9 months ago

El Salvador extends emergency powers in year-long gang crackdown

Al Jazeera  

Measures enjoy widespread support, but rights groups say they have led to arbitrary arrests and prison overcrowding. The so-called state of exception, renewed for a 12th time late on Wednesday by the Salvadoran Congress, came into effect last year and has led to around 66,000 arrests in the Central American nation. While the emergency measures enjoy widespread support in El …

El Salvador: 2,000 more to prison, vows will ‘never return’
1 year, 9 months ago

El Salvador: 2,000 more to prison, vows will ‘never return’

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador’s government sent 2,000 more suspects to a huge new prison built especially for gang members Wednesday, and the the justice minister vowed that “they will never return” to the streets. Gustavo Villatoro, the government’s minister for justice and peace, said the suspected gang members would never return to the streets, even though about …

Photos: Inside El Salvador’s new ‘mega prison’ for gang members
1 year, 10 months ago

Photos: Inside El Salvador’s new ‘mega prison’ for gang members

Al Jazeera  

The first 2,000 inmates of a new prison built in El Salvador to accommodate more than 40,000 suspected gang members targeted in President Nayib Bukele’s “war” on crime have arrived at the facility. Bukele tweeted on Friday: “At dawn, in a single operation, we transferred the first 2,000 members to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism,” which he said …

Watch: El Salvador moves thousands of alleged gang members to ‘mega prison’
1 year, 10 months ago

Watch: El Salvador moves thousands of alleged gang members to ‘mega prison’

Firstpost  

Some 63,000 presumed gang members have been rounded up since President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency months ago, allowing arrests without warrants in the violence-plagued country New Delhi: El Salvador has arrested thousands of suspected gang members, as a part of its contentious operation on crime. “Today at dawn, in a single operation, we transferred the first 2,000 …

El Salvador moves 2,000 alleged gang members to new ‘mega-prison’
1 year, 10 months ago

El Salvador moves 2,000 alleged gang members to new ‘mega-prison’

Al Jazeera  

The Salvadoran government has been accused of widespread abuses as it waives civil liberties to combat gang activity. The Central American nation of El Salvador has transferred 2,000 people accused of gang membership to a recently opened “mega-prison”. In a Twitter post on Friday, President Nayib Bukele celebrated the arrival of the alleged gang members at the prison, which has …

El Salvador extends special powers in fight against gangs
1 year, 10 months ago

El Salvador extends special powers in fight against gangs

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy El Salvador’s congress has approved …

El Salvador extends special powers in fight against gangs
1 year, 10 months ago

El Salvador extends special powers in fight against gangs

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador’s congress has approved President Nayib Bukele’s request to extend the period of special powers for another month, meaning the country will go at least a full year with some fundamental rights suspended in fight against gangs. After a surge in gang violence in March 2022, in which 62 people were killed in a …

El Salvador bets safety on incarceration; unveils new prison
1 year, 11 months ago

El Salvador bets safety on incarceration; unveils new prison

Associated Press  

TECOLUCA, El Salvador — When El Salvador began making mass arrests of people with suspected gang affiliations last year, President Nayib Bukele ordered the construction of what would be the largest prison in Latin America. Bukele put it in simple terms in a tweet Thursday: “El Salvador has managed to go from being the world’s most dangerous country, to the …

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