Honduras is facing a wave of assassinations in its prisons. The country's prison administration was again bereaved during the night of Friday December 20 to Saturday December 21. At least 18 detainees were killed and 16 others injured in a shooting, the reasons for which are still unknown, in Tela prison, a port city in northwest Honduras, 200 km from the capital Tegucigalpa.
The prison administration initially reported three deaths, but the death toll quickly increased, reaching 18 dead and 16 injured. Authorities, however, only provided a nominal list of 14 dead and 15 injured on Saturday morning.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, citing the need to curb prison killings, last Tuesday ordered police and the military to take full control of the country's 27 prisons, where more than 21,000 detainees are crammed . However, the military had not yet taken control of the Tela detention center on Friday, according to prison administration spokeswoman Digna Aguilar.
Bloody previous
The presidential decision was taken after the December 14 assassination of five members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang (MS-13) by a fellow inmate at La Tolva high security prison, some 40 kilometers east of the capital Tegucigalpa.
The day before, Pedro Idelfonso Armas, the director of the country's main high-security prison in El Pozo-I, in Santa Barbara (west of the country), was shot dead. Armas had been suspended shortly before for the purpose of investigating his presence during the assassination by detainees of Magdaleno Meza, a drug trafficker whose confessions and note books allowed the brother of the Honduran president, Juan Antonio "Tony" Hernandez. The latter was found guilty of drug trafficking by a New York court.
According to a video circulated on social media, the prison director was talking to Magdaleno Meza when guards opened fire, causing confusion that allowed a dozen inmates to shoot the drug dealer at point-blank range.
