The gang Mara Salvatrucha y Barrio 18 transferred their particular bloody war to the Women’s Center for Social Adaptation (Cefas) in Honduras, situated in Tamara, Francisco Morazan. In this prison located 25 kilometers from Tegucigalpa, there was a brawl this Tuesday that caused the death of at least 46 women, of whom 25 burned to death in arson and 16 riddled shot, according to preliminary data from the Public Ministry, although this number could increase in the next few hours, given that at least seven women, between the ages of 24 and 62, were transferred to the Medical School located in the capital of the country, some with burns and others with wounds from firearms and blunt objects.
By Wednesday afternoon, 23 bodies had been identified, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Waiting for an official report of deaths from the Prison system and from a judicial investigation, the first indications point to the fact that, supposedly, the gang members of Barrio 18 they locked up the rival women of the Mara Salvatrucha and they set fire to the module one with them inside causing a massacre. According to the country’s local press, witnesses have stated that cries of despair were heard and that the trapped inmates tried to climb the walls to save themselves without success. At the same time, other inmates dedicated themselves to shooting in cold blood to other inmates in different parts of the prison, as shown by the prison’s security cameras, where armed women are observed looking for their targets one by one to kill them. One of the victims is a former cadet of the National Police Academy, who had been detained since 2018 accused of killing a 24-year-old student from the same Academy.
Likewise, images of the carnage committed by the inmates with one of the completely burned modules have gone viral, where the inert bodies of several women are observed, some of whom have a huge rock on their heads. Public Ministry spokesperson Yuri Mora, has reported that they have already moved five teams of Forensic Medicine to the prison center and indicated that there are around 25 charred bodies, for which reason DNA testing will be required in order to identify them.
One of the survivors, before entering the hospital, revealed how the attack took place: “they only got into the module with a AR-15 and, later, several inmates from the Barrio 18 gang entered the cells.” Neighbors of Támara confirmed to the local media that they had heard cries of despair and shots in the prison compound since early morning and even residents of the sector shared videos of the columns of smoke coming out of the prison on their social networks.