Honduras, long one of the poorest countries in Latin America, is now also among the most violent and crime-ridden. The violence is carried out by local drug trafficking groups, gangs, corrupt security forces and transnational criminal organizations mainly from Mexico and Colombia.
After six months, the state of exception in Honduras has failed to significantly reduce gang violence and extortion.
Coca cultivation remains concentrated in the Andes, but escalating seizures suggest it could eventually be successful elsewhere.
InSight Crime reviews Latin America and the Caribbean's cocaine seizure date from 2022 to find out what it reveals about regional trafficking.
Honduras is one of the most important drug trafficking operation centers between South America and Mexico. With all of its branches of government and its armed forces plagued by corruption, Honduras has evolved into a transit nation in which criminal groups, protected by the political system, have developed the capacity to produce cocaine hydrochloride in local laboratories. Since the end of the last decade, political protection has allowed the traditional drug trafficking groups to flourish. Testimony provided by drug traffickers and Honduran politicians on trial in the United States have revealed the deep-seated connection between organized crime and the governing National Party.
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Honduras’ major drug trafficking groups – like the Cachiros and the Valles – have largely been dismantled with the arrest and extradition of top leaders, but vestiges of these clans continue to operate. Political power brokers also have ties to drug smuggling and have even run trafficking operations themselves. The MS13 and Barrio 18 street gangs control urban neighborhoods in the country’s two major cities – Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula – and rural towns close to the border with El Salvador.
The US State Department's annual narcotics report sees coca cultivation spreading, while Colombia remains the top cocaine supplier to the US.
InSight Crime's 2022 Homicide Round-Up covers more countries than ever before, with a major expansion into nations of the Caribbean.
To Desafio, the Barrio 18 gang in Honduras was everything. It provided a family, a sense of belonging. Until his life grew increasingly violent.
Extortion in Latin America continues to bring in fortunes for criminal gangs. So how do they do it?…
The US is losing allies in Latin America just as production of cocaine, fentanyl, and other synthetic drugs is going through the roof.
Honduras declared a state of exception as extortion cases rise, suspending constitutional rights in cities and deploying thousands of troops.
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