Gang violence in Honduras forces thousands to flee

After criminals recently forced a family out of their home in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, the owner tried to rent it again, this time to a young couple. On moving day, the couple and three friends who helped them were kidnapped. Their bodies were found nearby a week later.

The horrific story has highlighted the horrors Hondurans face at the hands of criminal gangs and drug traffickers, making it one of the most violent countries not at war. Honduras, like some other Latin American countries, has also seen high rates of forced displacement as gangs take over families’ homes.

People are fleeing because of “threats, extortion, the murder of a family member, the expropriation of goods and property, and the recruitment of children,” said Elsy Reyes, head of human mobility at the National Commissioner for Human Rights. “They even give them a deadline of 24 hours to leave,” she said.

According to the office of the national ombudsman, which has a unit dealing with “internal forced displacement,” gangs and drug traffickers maintain a “mini-government” in the areas they control.

In 2023, the office received 1,761 complaints of forced displacement, while a UNHCR study showed there had been 247,000 cases in Honduras between 2004 and 2018. Reyes said the land registry conducted a census of abandoned homes, of which there were 50,000 in 2018.

Thousands flee the country

Six suspects were arrested for the murders of the young tenants and their friends in the working-class Mirador de Oriente neighborhood, which authorities blamed on the feared Barrio 18 gang. Honduras’ homicide rate in 2023 was 34 per 100,000 inhabitants, six times the global average. However, it was up from 79 per 100,000 a decade ago.

In addition to the internally displaced, thousands of Hondurans are fleeing abroad. “It’s a gradual increase, every year,” said Kathryn Lo, UNHCR’s representative in Honduras.

The UN agency registered about 14,000 Honduran “refugees or asylum seekers” in 2014. Last year, that number was more than 300,000, mostly in the United States or Mexico.

Together, the internally displaced and those seeking refuge abroad amount to “more than half a million, out of a population of 10 million,” or five percent of the population, Lo said. She said a 2023 law passed to prevent internal displacement and protect those forced to move was a positive step.

In a bid to combat gang activity, authorities declared a state of emergency in December 2022, allowing arrests without warrants. Under the measure, the leftist government of President Xiomara Castro deployed thousands of police and military officers across the country.

Security Minister Gustavo Sanchez said 12,000 weapons had been seized and 4,500 narcos and gang members arrested, but police raids have also led to forced displacement.

“The state of emergency has had a significant impact on forced displacement. We have identified cases where people, due to constant searches by the national police, are forced to leave their homes,” Reyes said.