Members of Special Forces attend launch of "Integral Plan for the Treatment of Extortion and Related Crimes", which aims to tackle local 'maras' (gangs), in capital Tegucigalpa.
Police has stepped up their presence on the streets of Honduras after President Xiomara Castro declared a state of emergency to quash a rise in gang activity in the Central American nation.
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 bus and taxi drivers protested in the capital Tegucigalpa to demand the government take steps to stop gangs from extorting a "war tax" from them.
Castro, elected the country's first woman president in January, declared "war on extortion, just as we declared war on corruption, impunity, and drug trafficking."
She urged the police to recover public spaces "assaulted and controlled by organised crime and its gangs."
She asked police to identify hotspots where "the partial suspension of constitutional guarantees" would be necessary.
"To strengthen efforts to recover lawless areas in the neighbourhoods, in villages, in departments, I declare a national state of emergency," said Castro on Thursday.
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.
READ MORE: Honduras: Xiomara Castro sworn in as first woman president
🇭🇳 #efHonduras | La presidenta Xiomara Castro declaró hoy emergencia nacional y ordenó a la Policía “proponer estados de excepción y suspensión parcial de garantías constitucionales” en áreas controladas por el crimen organizado y las pandillas. pic.twitter.com/YJEdgzm2NH
— El Faro (@_elfaro_) November 24, 2022
'Triangle of death'
Police chief Gustavo Sanchez said he would dedicate more money and at least 20,000 officers to stamp out gang activity.
Along with neighbours El Salvador and Guatemala, Honduras forms the so-called "triangle of death" plagued by the murderous gangs called "maras" that control drug trafficking and organised crime.
In 2020, there were 37.6 recorded homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.
High poverty and unemployment, mixed with gang and drug violence, forces nearly 800 Hondurans to leave the country every day, mainly headed for the United States, where more than a million already live, most of them undocumented.
READ MORE: Honduras extradites ex-president Hernandez to US over drug charges
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