Honduras This Thursday he experienced one of the most violent days in recent years. At least 24 people – including five police officers – have died in two massacres that occurred just hours apart. and that have once again put the spotlight on the explosive mix of drug trafficking, rural violence and criminal structures that has been hitting the Central American country for decades.
The first massacre left at least 19 dead on a farm in the department of Colónin the Honduran Caribbean. Hours later, five other police officers died during an operation against a structure linked to drug trafficking on the border with Guatemala.
The Honduran Government has already ordered the “immediate” intervention of the Police and Armed Forces in both regions.
An ambush in the middle of the night
The most serious massacre occurred in the village of Rigores, in the municipality of Trujillo, when dozens of workers were preparing to begin their day in an African palm plantation.
According to initial investigations, armed men dressed in police uniforms ambushed the group and opened fire.
The spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office, Yuri Mora, initially confirmed 13 deaths, although hours later the toll rose to at least 19 victims.
And the authorities do not rule out that the number will continue to increase.
The crime scene was also altered before the arrival of investigators because relatives removed several bodies from the scene, making forensic work difficult.
The agrarian conflict that never disappeared
The Bajo Aguán area has been one of the great hotspots of violence in Honduras for decades.
It all goes back to the conflict over the ownership of lands handed over half a century ago to peasants within agrarian reform programs and which later ended up in the hands of large agricultural businessmen.
New generations of farmers continue to claim these lands and the conflict has already left hundreds of dead.
But the problem has also been mixing with drug trafficking, organized crime and armed structures with enormous territorial power.
The UN itself warned this Thursday of the seriousness of the situation.
The UN speaks of “criminal structures”
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights “strongly” condemned the massacre and sent an especially harsh message against the criminal networks operating in the region.
The organization asked Honduras “dismantle criminal structures and networks of violence” present in Colón and warned that the problem is no longer just agrarian.
“Violence, impunity and the limited state presence negatively affect the exercise of human rights,” said the UN representative in Honduras, Juan Carlos Monge.
The United Nations also recalled that it had already warned in previous reports of the presence of criminal organizations with the capacity to control entire territories around peasant cooperatives.
Five police officers murdered hours later
The violence did not end there.
Hours after the massacre in Colón, five other agents of the Anti Maras and Gangs Police Directorate died in an operation in Corinthnear the border with Guatemala.
The police were trying to capture an alleged member of a drug trafficking structure when they were intercepted.
According to the Honduran Police, the agents were “subjugated and deprived of liberty” before being murdered in a mountainous area.
The case has also caused an internal earthquake in the security forces.
The Security Secretariat immediately suspended the leadership of the police unit involved for possible irregularities in the operation and for not following established security protocols.
The Church speaks of a country “in blood”
The reaction also came from the Episcopal Conference of Honduras.
The bishops expressed their “deep sadness and indignation” and condemned the “escalation of violence” in the country.
“We cannot accept superficial justifications for such horrendous events,” they noted in a statement.
The Church spoke directly of a country “bloodied and mourning” by violence that seems increasingly out of control.
All this while Honduras continues to register one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America, with an official daily average of between 10 and 12 murders.
