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Seven Facts About Gangs in Honduras

Gang Violence in Honduas

Honduras is one of the most impoverished nations in Central America. In 2016, figures showed that over 66 percent of its population lived in extreme poverty. These figures also reveal an estimated one out of five rural Hondurans is trying to survive on less than a mere $1.90 per day. Since poverty and criminal activity seem to have a close correlational relationship, it is no surprise that Honduras has held consistently high crime rates along with high poverty rates. What many may not know is that much of Honduras’s crime is due to gang violence. Below are seven facts about gangs in Honduras.

Seven Facts About Gangs in Honduras

  1. The two largest gangs in Honduras are the MS 13 and the Barrio 18. MS 13 is expanding internationally. Its scope and influence on crime in Honduras are hard to verify. In fact, since gang activity is so common in Honduras, it is hard for government officials to discern how much violence in the country is strictly due to gang-related activity.
  2. One gang runs several legal businesses. Recent investigations into the massive MS 13 gang activities in El Salvador uncovered a multimillion-dollar structure of legitimate businesses owned by the gang. MS 13 is a violent and massive gang that operates primarily in Honduras but also in El Salvador. Additionally, the gang has close ties with Mexican drug cartels.
  3. Honduras is attempting to rid its law enforcement of corruption. Since 2016, the nation of Honduras has dismissed around 4,455 police officers. This purge was an attempt to cleanse its law-enforcement from corrupted officials. These were officials who dabbled with organized crime and carried out extra-judicial killings. The country is also trying to create a new police training curriculum that centers on human rights.
  4. Ex-cops are being recruited into gangs. Despite good intentions, many of the released ex-police officers are now being hired by the vicious MS 13 gang as bodyguards and trainers for gang-related activities. MS 13 reportedly pays ex-officers 2.5 times the amount they made inside the police force. This allows the gang to become better-trained to conduct violent business.
  5. Families are leaving their homes to escape gang violence. Between 2016 and 2017, over 1,900 people fled their homes and communities because of gang-related death threats or extortions. It can be insidiously dangerous for residents of Honduras to live unaware of gang turf. Many may accidentally cross those invisible lines and put themselves in harm’s way.
  6. Homicide rates are decreasing, but Honduras still has one of the highest. Honduran homicide rates in 2018 are half of what they were in 2012. In 2012, Honduras experienced 86 murders per 100,000 citizens. In 2018, this number decreased to 42 murders per 100,000 citizens. Although making progress, Honduras still has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
  7. Honduras has increased the budget for protection from gangs. The budget for Honduran security and justice institutions has increased by over 50 percent in the last five years. In the last couple of years, the El Pozo and La Tolva maximum-security prisons were built. Some of the nation’s criminal and gang leaders are now incarcerated there. Security officials say this has limited their abilities to operate within the prison system.

These key facts about gangs in Honduras indicate that Honduras is trying to lessen the violence that plagues its streets. This is in tandem with foreign partners such as the United States. Overall, global attention and innovative thinking are necessary to provide solutions to the gang epidemic.

– Haley Hiday
Photo: Flickr

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Poverty in Mexico – 10 Facts You Should Know

Poverty in Mexico
Even though much of Latin America has been able to significantly reduce poverty, the country of Mexico still struggles. Below are the leading facts about poverty in Mexico. Education about the problem of poverty in Mexico is crucial and will help us remedy the situation.

Top Facts about Poverty in Mexico

  1. Around half of the population lives in poverty; about 10 percent of people live in extreme poverty.
  2. The number of people in poverty has mainly been increasing since 2006, when 42.9 percent of people were below the national poverty line.
  3. Chiapas, Guerrero and Puebla are the states with the highest levels of poverty.
  4. Mexico has a sizable GDP of about $1.283 trillion. Even so, Mexico’s GDP per capita or per person is $14,000. This means that there is a sizable wealth gap in the country between rich and poor.
  5. More than 20 million children live in poverty with more than five million living in extreme poverty, according to Fusion, the United Nations Children’s Fund.
  6. About 25 million Mexicans make less than $14 a day and a quarter of the workforce is underemployed.
  7. The average salary in rural areas is 3 to 4 times less than that of urban areas in Mexico.
  8. Economic growth is commonly believed to decrease poverty. Mexico’s annual growth rate is somewhat small, around two to three percent. Additionally, this economic growth has mainly benefitted the rich.
  9. Drug wars are thought to perpetuate poverty in Mexico.
  10. Despite all of this, Mexico has decreased extreme poverty in the country by 20 to 25 percent since 1995. This is mainly because of social welfare programs that were enacted during economic crises.

Even though poverty in Mexico is a sizable issue, there are certain steps the country can take to help those in poverty. Mexico can focus on decreasing the wealth gap and ensuring that economic growth benefits the poor. Additionally, Mexico can take steps to prosecute drug cartels. This may be easier said than done, but with these things in mind, Mexico can decrease poverty in the country.

– Ella Cady

Sources: World Bank, Huffington Post, IB Times, Poverties.org
Photo: PV

Bolivian Coca

Bolivian-Coca
Coca leaves have been consumed by natives in Bolivia for centuries. The native Bolivian population used coca to treat many medical conditions such as fatigue and altitude sickness as well as hunger and thirst. In many other countries, however, coca consumption is frowned upon and the substance is considered a narcotic.

When Pope Francis recently visited South America in early July, he drank a brew of chamomile, anise and coca leaves — an ancient South American elixir that wards off altitude sickness. This led to some stir on the internet regarding his consumption of coca.

Bolivia is considered a lower-middle-income country, where the gross national income in 2014 was USD $2,830 per person, according to the World Bank. Coca production in Bolivia contributes greatly to the economy and is a means of livelihood for many farmers. It is the second largest producer of coca leaves behind Peru.

During the 1980s, coca production and trade amounted to USD $1 billion in annual exports, according to an analysis by the United States Library of Congress. That number is much higher today: in 2014, Bolivia’s GDP was $34.18 billion, according to the World Bank.

There is, however, a dark side to coca leaves. It is the main ingredient used to process cocaine. Bolivia supplied over 15 percent of the cocaine that reached the streets of the United States in the 1980s, making it a strong target of international criticism from Congress.

At the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, coca was outlawed and Bolivia’s use of coca was greatly limited and restricted. The treaty commanded Bolivia and other Andean nations to ban the consumption of coca leaves amongst their citizens.

In its natural state, the coca leaf is not scientifically harmful, and consuming it is a benign practice that is central to the cultural practice of millions of indigenous South American people. The treaty, however, declares that the exportation of coca is restricted; most countries outside of South America consider the trade and exportation of coca illegal, even in its natural state.

Bolivian prime minister Evo Morales held up a coca leaf at a U.N. narcotics assembly in 2012, defending the practice of chewing coca and urging the council to reconsider its stance on the leaf. He told the council, “Producers of coca leaf are not drug dealers; consumers of coca leaf are not drug addicts.”

But the outlawing of coca over 50 years ago has led to many continuous problems in Bolivia, including the illegal smuggling of coca paste throughout South America in order to process cocaine. The cocaine trail is a lucrative business that entices poor farmers to sell a portion of their crops to support their families.

Drug cartels hold citizens hostage, run prostitution rings and force violence wherever they are operating. In order to profit through the black market, it is in their best interest to see that nations do not work together to solve problems such as legal coca trade.

In 2011, the Obama administration rejected Bolivia’s proposed amendment to change the treaty and allow citizens to chew coca. A change in policy and cooperation between the United States and Bolivia would not only increase popularity among the nation’s people but would also strengthen drug prevention efforts throughout the region.

The move would allow farmers to legally sell their goods, encouraging them to not trade their crops to drug traffickers. The sales would boost the economy of Bolivia and other South American countries, allowing more resources to be allocated to fighting the real violent criminals.

In turn, the United States would also get more cooperation from the Bolivian government, gain trust and better strategically combat cartels. Not all of the problems with drugs can be solved with a single policy, but together, by working to carefully reform international coca laws, the United States can help reduce poverty and illegal drug operations that are plaguing North and South America.

– Adnan Khalid

Sources: About Coca Leaf, CNN, Library of Congress, The Guardian, UNTC, Washington Office on Latin America, World Bank
Photo: Indian Country Today Media Network

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Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Captured

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After more than 13 years on the run, the infamous leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico has finally been caught. Joaquin Guzmán, known as “El Chapo” for his short stature, was caught on February 22 after joint efforts between the Mexican Marines and the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA.)

Before dawn that day, the team of Mexican marines raided Guzmán’s beachside condominium in the resort town of Mazatlán. The marines insured the occupants of the condominium were asleep using infrared and body heat scanners before entering the building.

When they entered, they found the drug king asleep shirtless next to his beauty queen wife along with an AK-47 within reach. Guzmán’s 2-year-old twin daughters and his bodyguard were also asleep in the next room.

The arrest was preceded by months of extensive findings by the DEA and Mexican authorities that led them closer to Guzmán. In recent months, authorities arrested several members of the Sinaloa cartel and discovered a system of tunnels underneath seven houses in Culiacan. Mexican marines almost captured Guzmán the previous week, but Guzmán narrowly escaped arrest by exiting one of the houses through a hatch beneath a bathtub.

Serafin Zambada-Ortiz, the son of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of Guzmán’s lieutenants and heir-apparent of the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested in November 2013. The arrests of cartel members, followed by an examination of their cell phone usage, led authorities ever closer to the quasi-mythical Guzmán.

Guzmán maintained a legendary status in Mexico as an impossible to capture figure. In 2001, he escaped Puente Grande prison in a laundry cart. He is known for bribing his way out of situations, and stories abound of his paying the tabs of entire restaurants in order to escape the law. Yet he is also known for his generous habit of giving out money freely to those in need.

While Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is claiming this to be a success in the war on drugs, many other still believe that this latest arrest could still spell trouble for the Mexican state. With this power vacuum, drug cartels could ramp up their violent activities in an effort to win more turf. Further, the drug business drove billions of dollars into the state of Sinaloa, which will now need to rely on another source of income.

– Jeff Meyer

Sources: Los Angeles Times, CNN, CNN
Photo: Enrique Nieto

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Mexican Vigilantes Battle Cartels

Mexican Vigilantes
The cancerous effect of drug-related violence over the past six years has nearly stripped Mexico’s resources to the bone. Drug lords and cartel members have continued to control the better part of the region by striking fear into residents through brutal extortions, kidnappings, and murders.

This has all but halted the local economy, as many business owners are afraid to open up shop out of fear of reprisal. With more than 70,000 lives already lost to gang and drug-related violence, a recently approved initiative by the Mexican government has started to build its foundation in an effort to put an affirmative end to the war.

“Guys from the self-defense groups are moving around the city, co-operating in certain ways with the federal government. Many, many people have been detained,” said Hipolito Mora, the leader of an unlikely group of vigilantes who have arrested approximately 200 gang members.

These arrests come at the heels of a recently passed initiative allowing “self-defense” movements to assimilate and work with federal forces to combat violence and gang activities. These quasi-military units have sprouted up around Michoacan and have seen their membership grow into 20,000 strong.

The agreement was formed between the leaders of the Mexican vigilantes, army and police officers; President Enrique Pena Nieto’s envoy to Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo. Wearing white-T-shirts as a symbol of identification, the Rural Defense Corps, as referred to by government officials, recently breached the central square of Apatzingan, a stronghold and command base for the Knights Templar drug cartel.

Working with governmental forces, the Rural Defense Corps cleared the area out of cartel gunman who notoriously fired upon them in October 2013, when they entered the city unarmed in a convoy of hundreds. The recent presence of vigilante forces is a much needed boost for residents who have been forced to live under viscous rule for several years.

“We need to enter Apatzingan, which is the heart of the whole region and, as we all know, of vital importance for the criminal organization,” Mora said. Currently, the Knights Templar survives off a steady supply of methamphetamine and marijuana smuggling in addition to extortion and a controlling thumb over the local economy.

Since the beginning of January, these “self-defense” vigilante groups have launched a series of attacks against the Knights Templar gang in order to take back several overthrown municipalities in Michoaca in hopes of liberating communities. Many offenders have been arrested and detained through roadblocks around western Mexico in addition to door to door searches.

While such news is encouraging, atrocities and violence continue to remain a looming factor for rising forces. Recently, a mass grave with approximately 20 bodies was discovered in the Michoacan town of Tinguindin as well as four other murders in the nearby village of Zacan. While Mora believes these acts of violence to be retaliation for his group’s recent triumphs, he remains determined. “There can’t be any further delay, as that would put under risk the lives of so many people who are supporting our movement.”

– Jeffrey Scott Haley
Feature Writer

Sources: The Guardian, BBC, Daily Mail
Photo: Borderland Beat

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Mexican Drug Cartel: Vigilantes vs. Templar

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As federal police officers and military troops stand on the street corners of small towns as guards with assault rifles at the ready, a picture of the drug cartel issue shows its true colors. Thousands of these police officials and military troops have been making arrests on suspected drug cartel members. They have also been “disarming untrustworthy local police officers.”

The compilation of troops has discouraged the vigilante groups in the Mexican state of Michoacan from fighting the Knight Templar drug cartel on their own. President Enrique Pena Nieto’s goal has been to avoid the domestic disaster that would take place if the separate groups were to collide.

Recently, the risk of social violence has been at an all-time high, considerably in the agricultural region known as Tierra Caliente. In the last month, shots were fired at the office of the federal prosecutor, injuring a 25-year-old window washer.

The residents of Michoacan interpreted the shooting as a violent protest conducted on the behalf of the allies of the Knights Templar. The city where these acts are taking place, Apatzingan, is an important base of operations.

A recent case of arson against a pharmacy in Apatzingan reaffirmed some residents suspicions that the federal government is either “unwilling or unable to stamp out the Knights Templar.” This group has been known for using terrorism and extortion to control majority of the commerce in Michoacan. The cartel has successfully infiltrated numerous local governments.

Due to the lack of action or protection on the behalf of troops who are present in Apatzingan, the residents have instilled their faith in the self-defense groups. These groups have been “staffing roadblocks alongside federal police on the outskirts of town.”

A violent shutdown between the vigilante self-defense groups and the drug cartel operatives seemed unavoidable in Nuevo Italia. These self-defense groups have declared themselves in control, and managed to disarm the local police.

According to a statement released by the federal government, police or military personnel have been assigned to every municipality in the southern portion of the state. Officials also said the arrests of Joaquin Negrete and Jorge Fabian Quezada, two alleged cartel leaders, were made.

– Samaria Garrett

Sources: LA Times, CNN
Photo: SCMP