Organized criminals kill at least 25 in Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA

Organized criminals killed at least 25 people, including civilians and police officers, on May 21 in two attacks in northern Honduras, authorities said, as the Central American nation prepares a crackdown on crippling gang violence.

The deadliest attack took place at dawn in the municipality of Trujillo in Colon department, where 19 people were shot dead with long guns in an area riven by gang turf wars over a palm plantation and drug trafficking routes, authorities said.

In a separate attack near the Guatemalan border in Omoa, in Cortes department, national police reported five officers and one civilian were killed in a clash between an anti-drug squad and alleged traffickers.

The attacks come after the national legislature approved a series of reforms to confront criminal violence in Honduras, where the homicide rate is 24 killings for every 100,000 inhabitants.

The new measures authorize the military to participate in public security tasks and create a new anti-organized crime unit. It also opens the possibility of categorizing gangs and drug cartels as terrorist groups.

Honduras’s new conservative president, Nasry Asfura, has vowed to work with his United States counterpart, Donald Trump, to crack down on organized crime in Latin America.