Honduras under state of emergency over gang activity
Friday, November 25, 2022 at 8:23 PM
by © AFP 2022
Police stepped up their presence on the streets of Honduras Friday after President Xiomara Castro declared a state of emergency to quash a rise in gang activity in the Central American nation.
The small country has long been plagued by poverty, gangs, and violence linked to drug trafficking. Gangs have recently been extorting ordinary citizens as they go about their business.
"To strengthen efforts to recover lawless areas in the neighborhoods, in villages, in departments, I declare a national state of emergency," said Castro on Thursday.
An AFP photographer reported a heavy presence of special forces and other officers in the capital on Friday.
The state of emergency comes just days after hundreds of truckers protested in the capital Tegucigalpa to demand the government take steps to stop gangs from extorting a "war tax" from them.
Read more: https://www.legit.ng/world/1506218-honduras-state-emergency-gang-activity/