Above the gate at Comayagua National Prison in Honduras, words in blue lettering greet prisoners with the phrase “Hágase justicia aunque el mundo perezca” (“Let justice be served, even as the world perishes”). In Honduras, as in other Central American countries victimized by a ruthless, never-ending drug war, justice is an elusive term.
For the victims of Wednesday’s prison fire, which claimed more than 350 lives and was the deadliest prison fire in a century, there was no justice – only death. According to the Associated Press, most of the 856 prisoners at Comayagua prison were awaiting trial or had been arbitrarily detained as suspected gang members, thanks to Honduras’ “iron fist” public security policies that throw human rights to the side in an effort to combat crime. In Honduras, having a tattoo is enough to land you in prison, and jail could be a death sentence.
This tragedy could have been prevented. As MSNBC.com noted, the prison fire was set by a distraught inmate who warned the state’s governor of his intentions. As flames spread from a single jail cell to the entire prison complex, firefighters responded immediately, but the 12 prison guards working that night wouldn’t let them in. When emergency responders finally gained access, there were no guards or keys to unlock the cells. With the fire raging out of control, rescue workers could only stand by and watch as prisoners burned to death.
A U.S. Southern Command airbase is located just 15 minutes away, yet firefighters and rescue squads from the base were never mobilized. Let the world perish, even as justice is served.
In Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala – and increasingly Costa Rica and Panama – crime is spiraling out of control, fueled by the demand of mostly U.S. consumers for illegal narcotics, and the failure of government policies to provide development programs to lift the poor out of their misery.
The response to growing crime and violence in the region is increasingly militaristic. As InSightCrime.org stated, El Salvador’s president, Mauricio Funes, has expanded the army by 57 percent since taking office in 2009. The country’s defense budget increased by 32 percent in the past decade.
Like in Honduras, police in El Salvador have implemented an “iron fist” policy against crime and gang members since 2003. The number of suspected gang members sent to prison in El Salvador doubled from 4,000 to 8,000 in the four years after the policy went into effect. According to members of Funes’ own political party, the decision to militarize policing seemed to come from “somewhere in the U.S. capital,” InSightCrime.org reported.
It should come as no surprise that the United States government quickly denounced a statement last weekend by Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina that the leaders of the region most affected by the drug war should consider decriminalization of illicit drugs. The U.S. has billions of dollars at stake.
Regardless of the Guatemalan leader’s intentions – some say his comments are a ploy to attract U.S. military aid – the former general and military intelligence chief has a point worth considering. Central American prisons are full. Crime is on the rise. Violence is increasingly brutal, while justice remains elusive.
Decriminalizing and taxing the drug trade would put more resources in government coffers and allow public security forces to devote more efforts to curbing violent crime and rehabilitating offenders, instead of treating them like dogs in a kennel.
How much longer should we continue fighting a war fueled by U.S. demand for illicit drugs? Who pays the heftiest price? Whose world is perishing?
