Honduras again extends emergency powers to fight violent gangs
FILE PHOTO: Members of Honduras’ DIPAMPCO (Police Anti Maras and Gangs Against Organized Crime Directorate) frisk people while doing rounds in a low-income neighborhood, after President Xiomara Castro declared a national security emergency implementing a new plan to combat a rising number of cases of extortion by violent criminal groups operating across the country, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras November 26, 2022. REUTERS/Fredy Rodriguez
TEGUCIGALPA — Honduras’ government on Friday extended until late May emergency powers that suspend some constitutional rights, part of an anti-gang push implemented by leftist President Xiomara Castro in the Central American country’s largest cities.
Earlier this week, Castro’s government deployed soldiers across the nation to fight violent criminal groups.
This is the third extension – this time by another 45 days – of the so-called state of exception that is now set to expire on May 21, the government said in a statement.
The crime-fighting policy applies to 123 local districts covering the largest population centers and allows authorities to restrict freedom of movement and assembly, as well as to search homes and make arrests without a warrant.
“This legal measure has made it possible for security authorities to capture more than a hundred members of criminal organizations,” the statement added.
The decision to continue with the policy underscores a change in tack by Castro, who previously criticized the role of the military in past administrations and pledged to “demilitarize citizen security” during her successful 2021 presidential campaign.
