Death toll in Honduras prison riot rises to 46 (+ video)

A group of female inmates broke through the prison guards, opened a cell block, started murdering other inmates, and set fires. Outcome: The main women’s prison in Honduras became the scene of a massacre in which at least 46 women were killed, according to an updated number of victims provided Wednesday by the Public Ministry and the Honduran Department of Forensics.

Videos released by the government from inside the prison, located about 50 kilometers northwest of Tegucigalpa, showed several handguns, several knives and other bladed weapons found after the riot.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro confirmed that the riots in the city of Tamara had been “planned by gangs under the watchful eye and patience of the security authorities”, and after announcing “severe measures”, he sacked Defense Minister Ramon Sabilon and replaced him with Gustavo. Sánchez, until now the Director-General of the National Police.

Inmates had been complaining for weeks that gang members were threatening them. According to authorities, the mob followed through on those threats on Tuesday and killed 46 women, many of whom were burned, shot or stabbed.

In the worst tragic riot at a women’s detention center in Central America since 2017, 41 girls from a shelter for troubled youth in Guatemala died after setting mattresses on fire to protest the rape and other ill-treatment they experienced there.

In Honduras, a riot at the country’s main women’s prison left at least 41 inmates dead, 25 of whom were set on fire. pic.twitter.com/4CmfGGvy11

– Telemundo News (@TelemundoNews) June 21, 2023

In 2012, 361 inmates died in a fire at the Comayagua prison in Honduras.

Sandra Rodriguez Vargas, front deputy commissioner of the Commission to Inspect Jail Centers, said the occupants “evicted” the guards from the center — none of whom appeared to be injured — around 8 a.m. Tuesday, after which it was reopened. They opened the doors of the adjacent cell block and started murdering the inmates.

They started fires that blackened cell walls and reduced bunk beds to piles of metal.

Officials at Hospital Escuela said at least seven inmates were transferred to Tegucigalpa Hospital for gunshot wounds and stab wounds. On Tuesday night, health center spokesmen said two people had been evacuated and the rest were stable.

It was a foretold tragedy, as Johanna Paola Soriano Useda waited outside the Tegucigalpa mortuary for news about her mother, Maribel Useda, and her sister, Carla Soriano.

Both were tried for drug trafficking but were held in the same area as the convicts.

Soriano Yuceda recounted that he told her on the phone on Sunday that “the girls (members of the Barrio 18 gang) had dispersed, were living fighting with them, and since then we haven’t spoken again.”

Another woman, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said she was waiting for news about her friend Alejandra Martinez, 26, who was detained in block one and accused of robbery.

“On Sunday, the last time I saw her, she told me that 18 (from the barrio) threatened them and that if they didn’t hand over a relative, they were going to kill them,” he said.

Gangs sometimes “impersonate” a friend or relative by giving them their name, address, and description, so gang members can later track them down and kidnap, rob, or kill them.

Officials described the killings as an “act of terrorism” and admitted that the gang had taken over parts of the prison.

Julisa Villanueva, deputy minister of defense and head of prisons, said the riots were in response to government measures to rid prisons of organized crime and vowed that “under no circumstances will they allow assault or vandalism.” A crime that has hijacked this nation’s prison system.

“We are not going to give up,” he insisted in a televised message after the riots. “We’re not going to negotiate.”

🔴 #Urgent | Massacre at a prison in Tamara, Honduras. 41 women have died. Local media reported that 25 people were burnt to death and another 16 were hit by bullets. pic.twitter.com/obqn7DRx5w

– World in Conflict 🌎 (@MundoEConflicto) June 20, 2023

As Joaquin Mejia, an academic with the Jesuits’ Reflection, Inquiry and Communication Group in Honduras, explained to the AP, two of the biggest problems in Honduran prisons are the lack of internal control by officials and inmates. .

Despite the Castro government’s declaration of intervention to change the situation, the Tamara riots demonstrate the failure of efforts to clean up the prison police and prevent the entry of drugs or weapons into prisons.

Meanwhile, the arduous task of identifying some charred corpses continued.

Many relatives of the prisoners were also eagerly waiting to get the news. Dozens of worried and angry relatives gathered in front of the prison, located in a rural area.

“We are dying here in pain and agony… We have no information,” said Salomon Garcia, the father of one prisoner.

“We don’t know if ours died there, that’s what we want to know,” said his daughter, Azucena Martinez, who was also jailed.

Tuesday’s riots could increase pressure on Honduras to emulate the strict zero-tolerance, no-privileges prisons instituted in neighboring El Salvador by President Nayeb Bukele.

Although the crackdown on gangs in El Salvador has led to human rights abuses, it remains popular in a country long terrorized by street gangs.

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