Honduras Gangs Leave Grisly Warning

[DuctapeFatwa]

The disfigured body of a young man was found in northern Honduras along with a message threatening the Honduran president, police said Sunday. The discovery marks the 10th such slaying apparently carried about by gangs protesting a government crackdown.

Guatemala's new president received a similar threat last month, warning him that if his government continued to target gangs, "more people will die."

Investigators estimated the victim was between 18 and 21 years of age. His assailants had gouged out his eyes, cut off his ears and nose and removed his heart, police spokesman Ivan Mejia said. His head was wrapped in a red shirt and stuffed inside a plastic garbage bag.

The threats appear to be a backlash against Maduro's crackdown on gangs in the past six months. Last year, the Honduran Congress followed the president's recommendation to outlaw the youth gangs and established prison penalties of up to 12 years for their members. More than 1,000 gang members have been detained.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040222_1338.html

[demsrule4life]

1. Contrary to public belief

we life in a pretty nasty world.

[Vogon_Glory]

2. Gangs and Policy Blow-back

I can't help but think that the rising strength of Honduras' criminal gangs is an example of US policy blow-back.

Many of these criminal gangs started when the US deported foreign-born members of notorious street gangs like the Latin Kings back to their countries of origin, regardless of how long they've lived in the US. I believe that many of the more enterprising of these thugs chose to get a franchise and set up shop in their new territory, using the network of allies and connections back in the US to make drug-running and gun-running if not easy, certainly profitable.

With the contraband money rolling in, small wonder these gangs are more efficient and better-armed than the under-paid, corruptible, under-funded Honduran police and internal security forces.

This is the sort of affairs that could all too easily spread to the US if the Far Right's lunatic fantasy of shoestring Federal and state government comes to pass.

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Honduras has almost no middle class. About 70% of the people

may be up to 80 by now, have no source of income.

Medical care, housing, food are all commercial products. Each person has the freedom to earn all the money he or she wishes in order to purchase them, and to build gates and walls around their homes and hire guards with machine guns to provide security.

The maquiladoras with their low wages and slavery-like conditions are popular in Honduras, since there are few other employment choices.