Violence in Honduras: an Analysis of the Failure in Public Security and the State’S Response to Criminality
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Calhoun, Institutional Archive of the Naval Postgraduate School Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Theses and Dissertations Thesis Collection 2014-06 Violence in Honduras: an analysis of the failure in þÿpublic security and the state s response to criminality Carvajal, Roger A. Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School http://hdl.handle.net/10945/42596 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS VIOLENCE IN HONDURAS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FAILURE IN PUBLIC SECURITY AND THE STATE’S RESPONSE TO CRIMINALITY by Roger A. Carvajal June 2014 Thesis Advisor Rodrigo Nieto-Gomez Second Reader Thomas Bruneau Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704–0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instruction, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202–4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704–0188) Washington DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED June 2014 Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS VIOLENCE IN HONDURAS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FAILURE IN PUBLIC SECURITY AND THE STATE’S RESPONSE TO CRIMINALITY 6. AUTHOR(S) Roger A. Carvajal 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate School REPORT NUMBER Monterey, CA 93943–5000 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING N/A AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. IRB Protocol number ____N/A____. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited A 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) The incidence of violence in Honduras currently is the highest in Honduran history. In 2014, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported the Honduras homicide rate, at 90.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, as the highest in the world for nations outside of war. It is the foundation of this thesis that the Honduran security collapse is due to unresolved internal factors—political, economic, and societal—as well as the influence of foreign factors and actors—the evolution of the global illicit trade. Two of the most important areas affecting public security in Honduras are the challenges posed by transnational organized crime and the relative weakness and fragility of the Honduran state to provide basic needs and security to the population. The emergence of criminal gangs and drug traffickers, and the government’s security policies, are all factors that have worsened public security. The crime environment has overwhelmed the police, military, judicial system and overcrowded the prison system with mostly juvenile petty delinquents. Moreover, with a high impunity rate of nearly 95 percent for homicides, killing in Honduras has become an activity without consequences. The latest state’s response is with re-militarization of security, highlighting the dilemma of the challenges of combatting internal violence and transnational organized crime in a weak state. 14. SUBJECT TERMS Honduras, Transnational Organized Crime, Militarization, TIGRES, Policia 15. NUMBER OF Militar, Maras, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Pandilla Calle Dieciocho, Juan Orlando Hernandez, Drug PAGES Trafficking, Corruption, Impunity, Fragile State, Honduran Armed Forces, Honduran National Police, 111 Death Squads, Partido Nacional de Honduras, Partido Liberal de Honduras, San Pedro Sula, Homicide 16. PRICE CODE Rates, Northern Triangle 17. SECURITY 18. SECURITY 19. SECURITY 20. LIMITATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF CLASSIFICATION OF THIS CLASSIFICATION OF ABSTRACT REPORT PAGE ABSTRACT Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU NSN 7540–01–280–5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2–89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. 239–18 i THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ii Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited VIOLENCE IN HONDURAS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FAILURE IN PUBLIC SECURITY AND THE STATE’S RESPONSE TO CRIMINALITY Roger A. Carvajal Major, United States Army B.S., University of Illinois at Chicago, 2001 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN SECURITY STUDIES (WESTERN HEMISPHERE) from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL June 2014 Author Roger A. Carvajal Approved by Rodrigo Nieto-Gomez Thesis Advisor Thomas Bruneau, Contractor Second Reader Mohammed Hafez, Ph.D. Chair, Department of National Security Affairs iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK iv ABSTRACT The incidence of violence in Honduras currently is the highest in Honduran history. In 2014, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported the Honduras homicide rate, at 90.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, as the highest in the world for nations outside of war. It is the foundation of this thesis that the Honduran security collapse is due to unresolved internal factors—political, economic, and societal—as well as the influence of foreign factors and actors—the evolution of the global illicit trade. Two of the most important areas affecting public security in Honduras are the challenges posed by transnational organized crime and the relative weakness and fragility of the Honduran state to provide basic needs and security to the population. The emergence of criminal gangs and drug traffickers, and the government’s security policies, are all factors that have worsened public security. The crime environment has overwhelmed the police, military, judicial system and overcrowded the prison system with mostly juvenile petty delinquents. Moreover, with a high impunity rate of nearly 95 percent for homicides, killing in Honduras has become an activity without consequences. The latest state’s response is with re-militarization of security, highlighting the dilemma of the challenges of combatting internal violence and transnational organized crime in a weak state. v THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK vi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1 A. MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTION................................................................1 B. IMPORTANCE ................................................................................................3 C. PROBLEMS AND HYPOTHESIS ................................................................5 D. LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................7 E. RESEARCH DESIGN ...................................................................................14 II. MILITARIZATION: THE STATE RESPONDS TO RISE IN VIOLENCE .....17 A. THE MILITARIZATION OF SECURITY.................................................18 B. TIGRES ..........................................................................................................19 C. PMOP ..............................................................................................................23 D. AN HISTORICAL TAKE ON THE MILITARY.......................................26 E. CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................32 III. MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CRIMINAL ENVIRONMENT ......35 A. TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME ..............................................37 1. Drug Trafficking in Honduras ..........................................................44 2. Maras ..................................................................................................47 B. A WEAK AND FRAGILE STATE ..............................................................54 1. Political Corruption in Honduras.....................................................56 2. Institutional Capacity ........................................................................60 C. CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................62 IV. IS HONDURAS SIMPLY EXPERIENCING A CRIME WAVE? .......................67 V. CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................75 APPENDIX A. HANDAL PEREZ DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION ............81 APPENDIX B. LOS CACHIROS DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION .............83 LIST OF REFERENCES ......................................................................................................85 INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST .........................................................................................93 vii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Honduras: Homicides by Department in 2012 (from Universidad Autónoma de Honduras Observatorio de la Violencia, 2012) ..........................2 Figure 2. Global homicide rate, by sex and age group, 2012 or latest year (from UNODC Homicide Statistics, 2014) ..................................................................4