Tegucigalpa.- At least five people have been detained, one of them this Thursday, by the security forces for allegedly being involved in the massacre perpetrated on June 24 by an armed group in the Choloma sector, in northern Honduras, where they died at least thirteen people.
“We have it. 5th Captured for the case of multiple deaths in Choloma,” said the Honduran Minister of Security, Gustavo Sánchez, in a message on Twitter, which accompanies two photographs of a group of armed men.
He pointed out that the fifth detainee, whose identity he did not reveal, is a gang member from Barrio 18 who has an arrest warrant for the crime of aggravated kidnapping to the detriment of several people.
The other four suspects, all gang members, were detained by security forces between June 26 and this Wednesday.
According to the authorities, at least nine gang members from the Barrio 18 participated in the massacre in the Victoria neighborhood, in a town under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Choloma, where the victims celebrated a birthday.
The National Police have confiscated AR-15 rifles, projectiles, pistols, ammunition for prohibited use, bulletproof vests, marijuana and several cell phones from the detainees, evidence that will allow, according to the authorities, to demonstrate their participation in the massacre.
The security forces maintain the hypothesis that the massacre occurred due to a dispute between two gangs over the control of territories in the north of the Central American country.
The Honduran Police offered a reward of 800,000 lempiras ($32,533) for those who provide information on the perpetrators of the massacre.
As a result of the massacre, the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, decreed a day later a “special curfew” from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. local time (from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. GMT) in the municipalities of Choloma and San Pedro. sula.
Criminal violence in Honduras leaves a daily average of between ten and fifteen people dead, according to official sources.
