The President of Honduras, Síomara Castro, declared a nationwide state of emergency yesterday (Thursday) and began implementing a plan to combat the phenomenon of extortion by members of violent gangs throughout the country, which is becoming increasingly widespread.
The measures announced by Ms Castro include the removal of certain rights enshrined in the Constitution in areas where the problem of gang activity, or maras, is most acute, the deployment of 20.000 police officers, carrying out street checks and implementing measures to combat money laundering.
The suspension of constitutionally enshrined rights remains to be approved by Congress, although dimensions of the plan went into effect yesterday.
The President said the plan also provides that the Government will be able to make extraordinary expenditures to combat the activities of maras, who engage in kidnapping for ransom and drug trafficking, among other things.
The President of Honduras, who belongs to the left, announced this plan to combat extortion in the poor Central American nation in a special televised address.
Mrs. Castro has been pressed to take action by businessmen, truck, bus and taxi drivers, residents and NGOs, who stress that the problem of maras extortion, mainly by members of the Mara Salvatroucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs, has greatly worsened in recent months.
In exchange for the "war tax" they demand, the thugs offer protection, or simply promise that those who pay will not be murdered.
Mareros have torched buses and murdered drivers who did not pay, forcing businesses and citizens to give them money out of fear.
It is estimated that extortion profits for the gangs annually reach $737 million, or nearly 3 percent of GDP, according to the Union for a Fairer Society, a nongovernmental organization that particularly addresses security issues.
Source: CNA
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