MS-13 Prison Tunnels Reveal Deep Corruption in Honduras

On Tuesday, Honduras' Prosecutor's Office formed a team of investigators to look into a series of tunnels dug in Támara prison by members of MS-13 last year. The tunnels were reportedly dug in order to facilitate the escape of three lieutenants within MS-13's Honduran chapter identified by the aliases "Chacarrón," "Largo," and "Blacky," with those responsible for the tunnels reportedly paying millions of Honduran Lempira in bribes so that operations would continue uninterrupted..A Planned Escape.The investigation will focus on how the individuals were able to construct tunnels within the prison, with authorities stating that prison administrators will be investigated for suspected corruption due to their supposed complicity in the construction of the tunnels. Luis Javier Santos, head of the Specialized Tax Unit against Corruption Networks (Uferco), told El Heraldo, a Honduran news outlet, that he holds concerns regarding the quality of prisons across the country stating that this case signals a system failure within the nation's prison system..An official document written shortly after the exposure of the tunnels in 2023 revealed that the prison tunnels were constructed while the prison was under the administration of Honduras' National Police before being discovered when the Public Order Military Police (PMOP) took control of the prison. Following the discovery, the Criminal Structures Unit of the Police Investigation Directorate (DPI) launched an investigation which revealed the sophistication of the tunnels. The tunnels were reinforced with iron pipes and beams, which were covered in steel mesh welded with corrugated steel rods, and the material for the construction of the tunnels was kept organized and in good condition..Despite the discovery of the tunnels, which were large enough for transversal on foot or even a motorcycle, authorities failed to report the tunnels to the public casting further doubts on Honduras' police force. El Heraldo reached out to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Security who referred journalists to the PMOP, journalists then spoke to a spokesperson for the Military Police who only replied with "negative" when pressed for information..The failure to release information regarding the construction of the tunnels alongside MS-13's ability to construct said tunnels acts as further evidence to Honduras' endemic corruption within the nation's police and military. Honduras' president, Xiomara Castro, has focused on this corruption alongside the nation's large homicide rate throughout her tenure as president. In 2022, Xiomara declared a national state of emergency in order to address the firm grasp the nation's underworld has on the country..Honduras' Security Crisis.The state of emergency followed shortly after El Salvador's own president, Nayib Bukele, announced his own state of emergency in the same year, leading many to draw comparisons to the two Latin American leaders' strategies. Despite similar methods having been undertaken, Honduras still suffers from a massive homicide rate. In comparison, El Salvador's actions have led the nation to become one of the safest in all of Latin America with a homicide rate lower than the United States. This is not where the similarities end, as both El Salvador and Honduras targeted the same two gangs, MS-13 and Barrio-18. Both gangs trace their own lineages to Salvadoran refugees who fled the Salvadoran Civil War which raged from 1979 to 1992..Analysts claim Honduras' failure to tackle the endemic crime within the nation is because of political struggles, rampant corruption within the police force, and underfunded police. These issues within Honduras only worsened in 2011 after the government launched a number of investigations against police across the country in an effort to crack down on corruption. These "purges" led to a dramatic drop in the police force, with 6,000 police officers being removed from their positions, according to La Prensa. Many of these officers were accused of aiding drug traffickers, even acting as hitmen for criminal organizations..After these purges, the Honduran government never made efforts to rebuild the country's law enforcement, severely hindering any attempts to crack down on crime in the future. This issue continued through Xiomara's state of emergency and combined with Honduras' mountainous geography made hunting down criminals near impossible..It was these operational issues that led to an increase in a number of crimes throughout the state of emergency. Extortion, which once was largely confined to urban centers of Honduras, began to expand throughout the countryside, affecting more Hondurans in regions that were once relatively peaceful. Furthermore, at least two more extortion gangs began operations amid the state of emergency, according to InSight Crime..Despite this lack of a proper solution, Xiomara has continued her efforts to address Honduras' high violent crime rate, constructing numerous "super prisons" often compared to Bukele's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). These prisons include one which will be situated on the "Swan Islands," which is set to hold 2,000 of the country's most dangerous criminals while a second much larger prison will be constructed in the country's eastern state of Olancho. Numerous Latin American countries have adopted similar measures to those used by Bukele, with both Ecuador and Argentina joining Honduras in constructing "super prisons" in their own nations. Ecuador is set to construct three separate large-scale prisons, while Argentina's Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, previously visited El Salvador to tour security facilities in mid-June..Honduras' security woes will need consistent and in-depth solutions that not only target criminals themselves, but their ability to evade justice through the corrupt practices of Honduran authorities. While new prisons will assist the nation in accommodating convicted criminals, the government must increase the quality and quantity of its police force and strike down corrupt officials to see real change.