Honduras on Sunday sent more than 600 police officers to the borders with El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua as part of the state of emergency declared on Thursday in the face of increased activity by criminal gangs, the police told AFP. Military Police (PMOP).
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“In accordance with the order issued by the President of the Republic and within the framework of the Global Security Plan, more than 600 military police left today to reinforce security operations at the border points”, indicated the spokesperson for PMOP, Mario Rivera.
AFP
This unit, made up of elements from the army, had been created by the previous government.
These reinforcements aim to “prevent the entry” into the country of “members of criminal structures” from neighboring countries and in particular from El Salvador, explained the spokesperson.
The “war” against gangs led by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has led to the detention since the beginning of the year of some 58,000 people.
AFP
The reinforcements in Honduras were sent to the departments of Choluteca, Valle (south), La Paz, Intibuca, Ocotepeque (west), Santa Barbara, Cortés (northwest), El Paraiso and Gracias a Dios (east), according to M Rivera, who assured that they “will remain in place indefinitely”.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro declared a state of emergency on Thursday, in order, according to her, to reinforce the government’s strategy “of immediate recovery of lawless territories”.
Police Director Gustavo Sanchez said at least 20,000 officers would be mobilized as part of the move, which came days after hundreds of bus drivers demonstrated in the capital against gang extortion.
AFP
Some 400 workers in the transport sector have been killed since the beginning of the year in this context, according to union leaders.
Honduras is at the heart of the “triangle of death”, an area of Central America plagued by violence, poverty and corruption. Criminal gangs, called “maras”, reign terror there, as well as in El Salvador and Guatemala.