HomeNewsBriefHonduras' Military Crackdown Faces Legal Challenge
BRIEF

Honduras' Military Crackdown Faces Legal Challenge

HONDURAS / 19 JUL 2012 BY TRACEY KNOTT EN

A campaign group in Honduras has filed a suit with the Supreme Court challenging the government’s use of the military in a policing role, which is a central part of the government's security strategy.

The Committee of Families of Disappeared and Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH) filed a claim with the Honduran Supreme Court on June 30 against the government’s decision to grant police powers to the military. The victims’ advocacy group argues that the military’s presence in the streets is unconstitutional because it violates the separation between military and police roles.

The suit comes after the Honduran Council of Ministers approved a 90-day extension of the military's powers. This is third extension so far.

Minister of Defense Marlon Pascua argues that the military is necessary to fight crime, and that its role in policing has been largely successful.

One of the advocates for the suit is Wilfredo Yanez, the father of 15-year-old Eved Yanez who was allegedly killed by members of the Honduran military in May.

InSight Crime Analysis

In recent years, Honduras has become an important transshipment point for US-bound cocaine. The Central American country has also seen an increase in cocaine processing, which is believed to be operated by Mexican cartels. It struggles with several violent gangs, including Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, and currently has the highest murder rate in the world.

In 2011, President Porfirio Lobo deployed troops in the cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in an effort to crack down on rising violence. The military is seen as a more trustworthy force than the police, who have been hit by accusations of widespread corruption. In March this year, Lobo proposed a constitutional reform to create a permanent military police force.

Latin American countries’ growing reliance on military forces to fight crime worries human rights advocates. Granting police powers to the military not only avoids addressing problems like corruption within the police, but can also risks undermining human rights. Soldiers are not trained in police procedures and are not used to working in such close quarters with civilians, which can put civilians at risk of abuses.

In a region with a history of military coups, giving more powers to the military has a potential to destabilize the power balance between civilian and military authorities.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BARRIO 18 / 29 NOV 2022

Honduras declared a state of exception as extortion cases rise, suspending constitutional rights in cities and deploying thousands of troops.

COCAINE / 29 JUL 2022

The case of a Honduran broker who laundered cartel money has shed light on the importance of US banks.

GENDER AND CRIME / 21 JUN 2023

A massacre in Honduras is the deadliest at a woman's prison in Latin American history. InSight Crime recently visited this…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Rights Watch Draws on InSight Crime's Haiti Coverage

18 AUG 2023

Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch relied on InSight Crime's coverage this week, citing six articles and one of our criminal profiles in its latest report on the humanitarian…