MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Curfew decreed in parts of Honduras following new massacre

“I ask for your collaboration to dismantle the crime that operates with impunity in Honduras,” Castro also said on social media

A “special curfew” was decreed Sunday by President Xiomara Castro in the Honduran municipalities of Choloma and San Pedro Sula, in the north of the country, after numerous murders Saturday, it was reported from Tegucigalpa. According to local media, in the department of Cortes alone, at least 22 people were killed in different violent incidents.

The massacre of thirteen people in San Pedro Sula was added to that of last Tuesday when 46 women died in a correctional facility near the country's capital.

President Castro also announced Sunday that operations, raids, arrests, and roadblocks will be carried out during the next 24 hours and offered a reward of about US$32,000 to anyone who helps find and capture those responsible for the massacres of the last days.

In San Pedro Sula, the second most important city in Honduras, close to Choloma, the “curfew will be from July 4”, for “15 extendable days”, according to the president.

In her first message, Castro said: “I have taken measures to provide security in the face of the brutal and merciless terrorist attack to which you are subjected by hired thugs trained and directed by the heads of drug trafficking who operate with impunity in the drug corridor, Valle de Sula.”

She also pointed out that within the security plan “Solution Against Crime” and the partial “State of Exception” in force since December 2022, “the operation ”Candado Valle de Sula“ was being initiated under on-site direction from Security Minister, General Gustavo Sánchez.

”The following measures will be announced by the Minister of Security. I ask for your collaboration to dismantle the crime that operates with impunity in Honduras,” Castro also said on social media.