At least 46 female inmates were killed during a violent gang confrontation at a prison on June 20.
The incident, which occurred about 30 miles northwest of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, was validated by Yuri Mora, the representative for the national police investigative agency.
The victims were found within the Centro Femenino de Adaptacion Social, a women’s correctional facility housing 900 inmates. Some victims were reported to be burned alive after a fire was set in one of the cells, while others were shot, stabbed or beaten to death. A total of seven women are currently being treated in a Tegucigalpa hospital for gunshot and stabbing injuries.
President Xiomara Castro of Honduras responded to the event, describing the inmates’ “grotesque murders” as shocking. She pointed towards the sinister influence of well-known street gangs in the prison. She took to Twitter to empathize with the families affected by this tragedy and promised “drastic action” in response to the incident.
The violence erupted between rival gangs, Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, as per Delma Ordonez, the president of a prisoners’ families association, who spoke to Reuters. She suggested that prison guards might have facilitated the incident. Investigations will look into how automatic weapons and machetes were smuggled into the prison.
Relatives of the inmates gathered outside the prison, anxiously seeking information about their loved ones.
Julissa Villanueva, the leader of the Honduran prison system, hinted that the riot was a backlash to recent attempts by authorities to put a halt to unlawful activities within the prisons. Villanueva affirmed on TV that the authorities will continue their fight against organized crime.
This horrifying event is the deadliest in a female detention facility in the region since 2017, underlining the persisting issue of gang violence in Honduran prisons. It brings back memories of a 2012 fire in a Comayagua prison, which took 361 inmate lives.