Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Recent discoveries from al less than fourteen people killed and wrapped in plastic in Honduras reflects the growing violence in the country, where the authorities attribute most of these crimes to gang-related events and organized crime.
Fourteen people, including a child under the age of 14, were killed in Honduras in the first twelve days of January in events that have in common that the victims wereAll wrapped in plastic packaging.
On one side of each body, written on cardboard, was found the following message: “Extortionists. Dot and com @”.
The violent deaths have been attributed to gangs, known as maras, who are fighting in the territories to sell drugs.
LEA: The suspect of a gang member related to the crimes of the captured body
“This type of homicide is certainly not new. the number of people who showed up (dead) is what catches our attention, “said Honduran police spokesman Jair Meza.
According to initial investigations, he added, “the criminal structures of the gangs and gangs are behind these types of crimes, due to internal struggles or with other types of structures.”
Meza indicated that the investigation teams are analyzing whether the crimes have “a common relationship”, but so far “it has not been possible to establish whether there is any message between the scenes”.
He emphasized that the written message found next to the bodies was “a way to discourage this part of the investigation”. of criminal acts.
“We are here to work with our communities and to ensure that these crimes do not go unpunished, that is our mission,” the police spokesman said.
VIOLENCE RETURNS
The first two “packaged” bodies were found on January 3 in a populated neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, in the north of the country, a scene that was repeated in the following days in Tegucigalpa, Tela, Choloma and Trinidad, in the center, Caribbean, north and west dand Honduras.
This type of crime “has been very notorious” so far in 2021 and “aggravates the situation of violence and crime in the country,” said for Efe the director of the Violence Observatory of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH). , Migdonia Ayestas.
“It’s really worrying that in thirteen days (since January), fourteen people (killed) will be found in bags, bags, so someone is wondering: what’s going on,” he said.
The crimes, according to the expert, “reveal the serious problem of insecurity and impunity, because when the facts are not investigated and those responsible are not established.”
In his opinion, the crimes could be related to people who decided to “take justice by his hand or selective offenses. “
YOUNG PEOPLE, MAIN VICTIMS
Throughout this network, young people are the population most affected by organized crime and gang violence, he added.
“The main risk factor for being a victim of violence is being a young person under the age of 30 in this country,” Ayestas said.
A report to The NGO Casa Alianza confirms This assessment, as only in November last year there were 62 homicides of people under the age of 23, many of them children.
CRIME INVESTIGATION
The State Commissioner for Human Rights of Honduras today regretted that this type of crime is taking place in the country and urged the authorities responsible for security and justice operators to “act promptly and diligently to clarify and identify these violent deaths.” pursue and punish the material and intellectual person responsible ”.
These deaths have “alarmed” the Honduran population, stressed the human rights organization, which called for compliance with Article 59 of the Honduran Constitution, which states that “The human person is the ultimate goal of society and the state. Everybody has the obligation to respect and protect it ”.
The Central American country recorded at least 3,482 homicides in 2020, figures that show “high rates of violence and impunity in Honduras, especially in cases of violation of the right to life. a situation that frustrates the expectations and opportunities for justice and development in the country, “he added.
The state has “responsibility through the security institutions responsible for ensuring the prevention, deterrence, control and combating of all types of crimes, contraventions or crimes, as well as for the maintenance and restoration of internal peace, tranquility, public order, security based on respect for human rights “, stressed the human rights commissioner.
Violence caused by organized crime, drug and gang trafficking is one of the main problems affecting the Central American nation, with 9.3 million inhabitants, most of them poor.