DEADLY RIOT CLAIMS LIVES OF 41 WOMEN IN HONDURAN WOMEN’S PRISON

Wed 21 June 2023:

At least 41 women were killed in a bloody riot at a women’s prison in Honduras on Tuesday, which the president of the country blamed on “mara” street gangs, which frequently wield significant power within prisons.

According to Yuri Mora, the spokesman for Honduras’s national police investigation office, the majority of deaths were burned, but there were allegations of prisoners being shot or stabbed at the jail in Tamara, which is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of the country’s capital Tegucigalpa.

According to hospital staff, at least seven female prisoners were receiving treatment for gunshot and knife wounds there.

“The forensic teams that are removing bodies confirm they have counted 41,” said Mora.

Conmocionada monstruoso asesinato de mujeres en CEFAS, planificado por maras a vista y paciencia de autoridades de seguridad. Mi solidaridad con familiares. Convoco a rendir cuentas al Ministro de Seguridad y la presidenta de la Comisión Interventora. ¡Tomaré medidas drásticas !

— Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (@XiomaraCastroZ) June 20, 2023

Local media interviewed one injured inmate outside the hospital who said prisoners belonging to the feared Barrio 18 gang burst into a cell block and shot other inmates or set them on fire.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro said the riot was “planned by maras with the knowledge and acquiescence of security authorities”.

“I am going to take drastic measures!” Castro wrote on her social media accounts in the wake of the attack.

Julissa Villanueva, head of the country’s prison system, suggested the riot started because of recent attempts to crack down on illicit activity inside the prisons and called Tuesday’s violence a reaction to moves “we are taking against organised crime”.

“We will not back down,” Villanueva said in a televised address after the riot.

Gangs wield broad control inside the country’s prisons, where inmates often set their own rules and sell prohibited goods.

Honduras is known for corruption and gang violence, which have infiltrated government institutions and seen the homicide rate soar.

The riots appears to be the most serious incident at a Central American female prison center since 2017, when girls at a Guatemalan shelter for troubling teens set fire to mattresses to protest rapes and other mistreatment at the overcrowded institution. The resulting fire and smoke killed 41 girls.