Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Recent findings from al killed fourteen people and less wrapped in plastic in Honduras reflect the increase in violence in the country, where authorities attribute most of these crimes to events related to gangs and organized crime.
Fourteen people, including a child under 14, were murdered in Honduras in the first 12 days of January in events common to the victimsEverything packed in plastic packaging.
On one side of each body, written on cardboard, was the following message: “Blackmailers. Dot and com @”.
The violent deaths have been attributed to gangs known as maras fighting areas to sell drugs.
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“This form of murder is by no means new. the number of people who have turned up (dead) draws our attention, ”said Honduran police spokesman Jair Meza.
According to the initial investigations, he added, “criminal structures from maras and gangs are behind these types of crimes, whether through internal fights or with other types of structures.”
Meza said investigative teams are analyzing whether the murders “have some kind of relationship in common”, but so far “it has not been possible to determine whether there is a message between the scenes.”
He pointed out that the written message found next to the corpses is “a way to discourage this research portion” of criminal acts.
“We are here to work with our communities and ensure that these crimes do not go unpunished, that is our mission,” the police spokesman stressed.
VIOLENCE REPEATED
The first two ‘packed’ bodies were found on Jan. 3 in a densely populated area of San Pedro Sula, north of the country, a scene repeated the following days in Tegucigalpa, Tela, Choloma and Trinidad, in the center, the Caribbean, north and west dand Honduras.
This type of murder has been “very infamous” so far in 2021 and “is exacerbating the situation of violence and crime in the country,” said the director of the Observatory for Violence at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH). , Migdonia Ayestas.
“It’s really a concern that in thirteen days (of January) fourteen people will be found (murdered) in sacks, bags, so you’re wondering, what’s going on,” he said.
The crimes, said the expert, “reveal the serious problem of insecurity and impunity, because when the facts are not investigated and those responsible are not identified”.
In his opinion, the murders could be related to people who have decided to ‘take’ righteousness by his hand or selective crimes. “
YOUNG PEOPLE, MAIN VICTIMS
Across this network, young people are the population most affected by violence caused by organized crime and gangs, he added.
“The main risk factor for becoming a victim of violence is that in this country you are a young person under the age of 30,” Ayestas emphasizes.
A report from the NGO Casa Alianza confirms this rating because it was only last November that 62 murders of persons under the age of 23 were registered, including many children.
CRIME INVESTIGATION
The state commissioner for human rights in Honduras today regretted that this type of murder is taking place in the country and urged the authorities responsible for security and justice to “act swiftly and with due diligence to clarify these violent deaths and to prosecute and punish those responsible for material and intellectual property “.
These deaths have “alarmed” the Honduran population, stressed the human rights organization, which called for the respect enshrined in Article 59 of the Honduran Constitution, which states that “the human person is the highest goal of society and the state. Everyone has. an obligation to respect and protect it ”.
The Central American country registered at least 3,482 murders in 2020, figures that “demonstrate the high rates of violence and impunity in Honduras, especially in cases of right to life violations. a situation that frustrates expectations and opportunities for justice and development in the country, ”he added.
The state has the ‘responsibility through the security institutions which are responsible for preventing, deterring, controlling and combating all types of crimes, crimes or violations, as well as for maintaining and restoring internal peace, tranquility, public order and security. based on respect for human rights ”, emphasized the human rights commissioner.
The violence caused by organized crime, drug trafficking and gangs is one of the biggest problems afflicting the Central American nation of 9.3 million people, the majority of whom are poor.