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Honduras Troops in Show of Force After Massacre
Honduras Troops in Show of Force After Massacre
Sat Dec 25, 2004 02:21 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....src=rss/topNews
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) - Thousands of soldiers and police took over Honduras' main cities on Saturday in a show of force to prevent new attacks by youth gangs after gunmen murdered 28 people on a public bus earlier this week.
Armored vehicles mounted with machine guns patrolled city streets and helicopters clattered overhead as troops and police searched for gang members involved in the bus attack.
Half a dozen gunmen armed with assault rifles stopped the bus in a rough neighborhood of the northern city of San Pedro Sula on Thursday night, and then opened fire on passengers.
They left a message at the scene claiming to be a leftist rebel group, but President Ricardo Maduro said they were members of violent youth gangs, or "maras," trying to intimidate his government into dropping its tough anti-crime campaign.
Police have arrested a Mara Salvatrucha member carrying a pistol and ammunition for the type of weapons used in the massacre.
Three people were shot dead in San Pedro Sula on Friday, and troops were deployed to prevent more bloodshed.
"The soldiers are in the streets to calm the population and deter any criminal group from actions that end up with tragic events like the one in San Pedro Sula," Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Rafael Moreno told Reuters on Saturday.
He said 1,500 soldiers and police were deployed in San Pedro Sula, about 1,300 in the capital Tegucigalpa and hundreds more in smaller cities across the country.
The maras are now seen as a major security threat in Central America, a region that was ravaged by Cold War-era civil wars in the 1980s.
They have their roots in Hispanic gangs in Los Angeles and they established a strong presence in Central America when prisoners in U.S. jails were deported back to their home countries in the 1990s.
Honduras and neighboring El Salvador have been hit hardest and both countries have launched controversial campaigns against the maras. More than 1,000 gang leaders have been arrested in Honduras.
The crackdown has drawn retaliatory attacks. Suspected gang members killed 13 people in a bus shooting in San Pedro Sula last year and they also dumped severed heads in the city with written warnings to the government to end the clampdown.
Last edited by josh4 on Dec-27-2004 at 06:31
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