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 pressure once they’re on the island,” Fortin said. “We’re not going to let this … atmosphere of terror go on.” But Breda, the Latin America expert, said the move is inching the country away from policies such as stamping out corruption, demilitarising and community policing that could make a long-term difference in addressing the root causes of gang violence. Honduras’s security policy “has become even more reactive and short-sighted, mimicking what’s going on in El Salvador to contain damage to their public image”, Breda said.

Prison Latin America Island Gang Members Castro El Salvador Honduras Breda Fortin  violence  colony  build  gang  members  honduras  facility  salvador  officials  country  prison  latin  imprison  el  island

History of this topic

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

Honduras plans to build a 20,000-capacity ‘megaprison’ for gang members as part of a crackdown
6 months, 1 week 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, …

Honduras to build 20,000-inmate ‘megaprison’ as part of gang crackdown
6 months, 1 week 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 …

At least 241 people have died in El Salvador’s prisons during the ‘war on gangs,’ rights group says
8 months, 2 weeks 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 …

Unrest in Haiti: Why it's not actually gang violence.
54 years, 11 months ago

Unrest in Haiti: Why it's not actually gang violence.

Slate  

This article was originally featured in Foreign Policy, the magazine of global politics and ideas. Henry traveled to Nairobi in late February to secure Kenya’s leadership of a new U.N.-authorized Multinational Security Support mission for Haiti. In framing Haiti’s situation as a mere gang problem, global actors risk committing to an ill-prepared and ill-fated intervention that will fail to secure …

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.” …

Could El Salvador’s gang crackdown spread across Latin America?
1 year, 4 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 …

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 copies El Salvador’s playbook in anti-gang crackdown
1 year, 5 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 adopts Salvadoran-style tactics in gang crackdown on prison inmates
1 year, 5 months ago

Honduras adopts Salvadoran-style tactics in gang crackdown on prison inmates

LA Times  

Authorities in Honduras forced half-naked inmates to sit in tight rows while they searched for contraband in a sweep of prisons Monday, similar to the harsh tactics of neighboring El Salvador. The prison sweep demonstrated the Honduran government’s resolve to crack down on gangs following last week’s gang-related massacre of 46 female inmates, the worst atrocity at a women’s prison …

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 …

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, 9 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 …

El Salvador moves 2,000 alleged gang members to new ‘mega-prison’
1 year, 9 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 bets safety on incarceration; unveils new prison
1 year, 10 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 …

In El Salvador, a tough anti-gang crackdown proves popular
1 year, 11 months ago

In El Salvador, a tough anti-gang crackdown proves popular

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Nine months into a state of emergency declared by President Nayib Bukele to fight street gangs, El Salvador has seen more than 1,000 documented human rights abuses and about 90 deaths of prisoners in custody. For decades, El Salvador’s main street gangs, Barrio 18 and the MS-13, have extorted money from nearly everyone and taken …

In El Salvador, army surrounds town to root out gang
2 years, 2 months ago

In El Salvador, army surrounds town to root out gang

Associated Press  

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — More than 2,000 soldiers and police surrounded and closed off a town in El Salvador Sunday in order to search for street gang members accused in a killing. President Nayib Bukele wrote in his Twitter account that members of the MS-13 gang were believed to still be inside Comasagua, about 20 miles southwest of the …

Can Honduras tackle deep-seated police corruption?
2 years, 4 months ago

Can Honduras tackle deep-seated police corruption?

Al Jazeera  

Tocoa, Honduras – Amid allegations that an elite Honduran police force colluded with a notorious gang while carrying out death-squad activities, observers are asking whether the administration of President Xiomara Castro has the political power or will to reform the country’s security forces. The head of the National Police, Gustavo Sanchez Velasquez, in June acknowledged abuses by the National Anti-Gang …

Haiti’s gangs: What can be done to loosen their grip?
2 years, 4 months ago

Haiti’s gangs: What can be done to loosen their grip?

Al Jazeera  

On Wednesday, August 10 at 19:30 GMT: In Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, hundreds have been killed in recent violence that has left residents trapped in their homes as shoot-outs between rival gangs have cut off access to basic goods and health care. Gangs and criminal organisations have long wielded power over Haiti, but more than a year following the assassination of …

El Salvador’s Bukele warns gangs lead to ‘prison or death’
2 years, 8 months ago

El Salvador’s Bukele warns gangs lead to ‘prison or death’

Al Jazeera  

President’s comments come as country cracks down on gang membership after wave of murders last weekend. President Nayib Bukele has warned parents in El Salvador to keep their children away from gangs to avoid “prison or death”, as the country cracks down on gang membership after dozens of people were killed last weekend in a surge in violence. It is …

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