The images with which the Honduran government announced the militarization of its prisons (and the criticism that resulted)

A strong operation began yesterday in the penitentiary centers of Honduras.

The military police of the Central American country took over the prisons to dismantle the criminal gangs that operate from there.

On the images, distributed by the government led by Xiomara Castrohundreds of prisoners appear, tattooed and barefoot, sitting with their hands behind their heads, being watched by the army.

These photos are reminiscent of those of the gang members from neighboring El Salvador, who were transferred to the mega prison inaugurated by the president in February this year Nayib Bukele.

According to the Secretary of State for National Defense of Honduras, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosalesthe operation – dubbed “Faith and Hope” – aims for these centers to “cease being schools for crime”.

“Our mission is to defeat organized crime in prisons,” he said via his Twitter account.

Honduran officials seized weapons, satellite phones, grenades and drugs, including from the prisoner’s cell. The plan is for the armed forces to take control of the prisons for a year.

The military action takes place days later 46 prisoners burned and shot in a riot allegedly between members of rival gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, in a prison near Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.

Castro described the riot as a “monstrous murder of women”dismissed the Minister of Security and appointed a prison oversight board.

The intervention also takes place after a particularly violent weekend: 21 people were killed on Saturday alone. 13 of them were victims of a massacre in a billiard room in the municipality of Choloma, in the north of the country.

After these dramatic episodes, the president promised to take “strict measures”.

Curfew

As expected, violence is one of Xiomara Castro’s most complex challenges.

Under great pressure from citizens demanding more security, the president is trying to bring organized crime under control with various measures.

In addition to the military intervention in the prisons, his government on Sunday a Curfew from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. for the cities of Choloma and San Pedro Sula (one of the largest in the country), which have been heavily affected by the violence.

This restriction was imposed for 15 days which can be extended.

Much of the country is also covered Exception statusa measure that has been in force since December 6 last year and has been extended three times (the last on May 21, when it was extended for another 45 days).

The president also conducts a police operation called “Sula Valley Padlock”, trying to contain the violence in the north of the country and to regain the areas taken by the gangs.

The offensive includes rewards for those who facilitate the arrest of the perpetrators of the crimes.

to ask

The measures have been criticized by some human rights groups.

In conversation with BBC Mundo, Evelyn EscatoCommissioner of the National Center for the Prevention of Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Honduras, affirmed that the militarization of prisons is a “involution from a human rights perspective”.

“It worries us because we are not an island country, we have many obligations and commitments in terms of international rights and we have an obligation to guarantee those rights in prisons,” he said.

Cesar Muñoz, associate director for America at Human Rights Watch, agreed that the measure is a setback.

“It is essential to reduce overcrowding, as guards cannot control overcrowded prisons, and to reduce the use of preventive detention, which covers nearly half of the prison population in Honduras, and to ensure decent conditions and job and education opportunities.” for the prisoners,” Muñoz said.

For its part, Amnesty International’s Director for America, Erica Guevarapointed out that the Castro government, “in a totally Bukelistic display of punitive populism”, “replicated a failed security policy that only exacerbates the context of human rights crisis”.

“The false dilemma between security and rights has taken a heavy toll on us in the region,” he added via his Twitter account.

However, Carlos Javier Estrada, press secretary of the Honduran presidential office, told the BBC it is a “short intervention, respecting international standards” to avoid the risk of committing human rights violations.

“Taking over the centers (where the criminals operate) does not necessarily entail torture or improper manipulation (of the prisoners),” Estrada said.

As for the curfew and the state of emergency, Evelyn Escoto believes this the “background problem” is not solved.

“This has to be solved with policy. We have problems with drug trafficking, extortion, gangs… and each crime has its own articulations and needs to be tackled in a different way,” he said.

The Commissioner warned that arrests are being made in some areas “on suspicion”.

“There is a stigmatization of people,” he said.

However, according to the Honduran authorities, the state of emergency has allowed it identify and capture gang members who profit from other crimes such as arms and drug trafficking, auto theft, femicide and money laundering.

“Bukele Effect”

All this takes place in the context of the war against gangs being waged by the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, whose country borders Honduras.

historical, El Salvador and Honduras they have one of the highest murder rates in the world and their inhabitants have suffered from insecurity for years.

El Salvador is under a exceptional regime questioned by human rights groups but applauded by most Salvadorans for reducing crime and homicides, according to government data.

Bukele’s popularity is also reaching broad Honduran sectors that favor the way the neighboring president is leading the war against the gangs.

Bukele is highly valued in Honduran society and there are broad sectors of the citizenry clamoring for leadership like Bukele’s in the country. That he puts things in order, that he imposes himself, that the criminals fear him,” he told BBC Mundo Eugene Sosa, Sociologist from the National Statistical Institute of Honduras.

For Sosa, the military intervention in prisons (and the government’s subsequent proliferation of the images) is part of the “Bukele effect” in the region.

“What is being done in El Salvador puts pressure on the Honduran rulers who, seeing that some things work in the neighboring country, have the motivation to develop aspects similar to the Bukele model,” says the sociologist.

However, government spokesman Carlos Javier Estrada ruled out that Castro’s policy “literally copies” Bukele’s strategy.

“We cannot compare ourselves directly with the neighboring country,” he said. “We just took elements with us, but we do want this intervention not the norm but an exceptionhe added.

While Bukele has drastically reduced crime and decreased homicides, he has been criticized for lacking a plan for the future beyond emergency action.

For example, analysts polled by BBC Mundo assure that the big challenge in Honduras is within tackling crime at its roots.

To this end, measures such as the curfew or the state of emergency will only work if deeper policies are implemented, such as the fight against corruption, the reduction of inequality and poverty, and the realignment of institutions.