HomeNewsBriefNorthern Triangle Deploys Tri-National Force to Combat Gangs
BRIEF

Northern Triangle Deploys Tri-National Force to Combat Gangs

EL SALVADOR / 15 NOV 2016 BY DAVID GAGNE EN

The Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras will launch a tri-national force aimed at disrupting the movements of street gangs that are increasingly crossing borders in order to coordinate criminal activities and flee security crackdowns. 

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández announced in a November 14 press conference that the anti-gang unit would be inaugurated the following day in the western department of Ocotepeque, which shares a border with El Salvador and Guatemala, reported AFP. Hernández said that the force will be comprised of police, military, intelligence, migration and customs officials. 

The head of state also said that the unit will monitor some 600 kilometers of shared border areas "because we are no longer going to permit that criminals commit atrocities in one country and evade justice by fleeing to another."

Hernández added that the unit will increase intelligence sharing among the Northern Triangle countries, which will facilitate "the capture of drug traffickers, gang members and any other criminals along the border."

The deployment of the anti-gang force has been in the works since it was first announced in August.

InSight Crime Analysis

The new unit is a response to the increasing number of gang members migrating from one Northern Triangle country to another. Most of this migratory flow is emanating from El Salvador, where the crackdown on gangs by security forces has been felt the strongest. Over 365 alleged Salvadoran gang members were reportedly arrested in just the first ten months of this year. Rather than maintaining a low profile, some of these gang members who fled because of the increased security pressure have gone on to become leaders of gang structures in Guatemala. 

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Security Policy

While the problem it seeks to address is real, the initiative may be more window dressing than tangible security reform. Authorities from the three countries are presumably already sharing intelligence and monitoring the border areas; as Hernández mentioned in the press conference, Honduras and Guatemala deployed a similar bi-national force to its shared frontier last year. The effectiveness of the new tri-national force will ultimately depend on whether the Northern Triangle countries can improve upon the mechanisms for multilateral security cooperation already in place. However, on this topic there have so far been few details. 

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.

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

ELITES AND CRIME / 1 NOV 2022

Honduras has freed dozens of individuals tied to organized crime a year after reforming its money laundering law.

COCAINE / 20 JUN 2023

The acquittal of "El Barney" raises questions about El Salvador's approach to targeting gang leaders amid the state of exception.

BARRIO 18 / 9 FEB 2023

In El Salvador, crackdowns have led to rapid improvements in security. But there is real doubt about whether gangs are…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

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…