Honduran president promises strong intervention in prisons following violent riots

Honduran President Xiomara Castro will announce a tough intervention and make new appointments in her security cabinet after riots occurred in four prisons over the weekend.

“Tomorrow, April 10, I will announce the appointments and the first emergency measures. The results are what matter.”

“The intervention will be tough but respectful of humanity, of the accused, their families, and defenders.”

Crime is fought by prevention, not only punishment”, said the president in a statement released by the Press Secretariat of her administration.

Xiomara Castro indicated that she is aware of the efforts of the Police and the Security Secretariat in the reduction of homicides and corruption in Honduras.

Still, she reiterated her intention to intervene vigorously in prisons.

“I will put a firm hand and order in the prisons until they are transformed into rehabilitation prisons, not into schools of crime and torture like what I have inherited”, emphasized the president.

She is the first woman to head the Honduran State in its two centuries of independent life.

The president recalled that her administration received the legacy of 12 years of looting and collusion with drug trafficking, gangs, gangs, and public and private organized crime.

She was referring to the previous governments of Porfirio Lobo (2010-2014) and Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022).

Castro assured that such a situation could not be fixed in 12 months.

The Honduran president announced the intervention in the prisons after riots and simultaneous shootings in four prisons on April 8, with the balance of one person dead and seven wounded, according to the preliminary report of the National Penitentiary Institute.

On April 9, another riot occurred inside a maximum security prison in the town of Ilama, in the department of Santa Barbara (northwest).

Local media attributed the incident to clashes between inmates of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Barrio 18 gang in El Pozo prison.

With information from Sputnik