- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
Honduras gang violence forces thousands from their homes
After criminals recently forced a family to leave their home in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, the owner again tried to rent it out, this time, to a young couple.
On moving day, the pair and three friends helping them were kidnapped. Their bodies were found nearby a week later.
The grisly tale has highlighted the terrors faced by Hondurans at the hands of criminal gangs and drug traffickers, which have made it one of the most violent countries not at war.
Honduras, like some other Latin American nations, has also seen high levels of forced displacement due to gangs taking over families' homes.
People flee because of "threats, extortion, the murder of a family member, the dispossession of goods and properties and the recruitment of children," said Elsy Reyes, head of human mobility at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
"They even give them 24-hour deadlines to leave," she told AFP.
Gangs and drug traffickers maintain "a mini-government" in the territories they control, according to the national ombudsman's office, which has a unit dedicated to "internal forced displacement."
In 2023, the office received 1,761 complaints of forced displacement, while a UNHCR study showed there had been 247,000 cases in Honduras between 2004 and 2018.
Reyes said the land registry was carrying out a count of abandoned homes, which stood at 50,000 in 2018.
- Thousands flee country -
Six suspects were arrested for the murder of the young tenants and their friends in the working-class neighborhood of Mirador de Oriente, which authorities blamed on the feared Barrio 18 gang.
The homicide rate in Honduras stood at 34 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, six times the world average. It had however improved from a decade ago when it stood at 79 per 100,000.
In addition to internally displaced persons, thousands of Hondurans are fleeing abroad.
"It's a gradual increase, every year," said Kathryn Lo, the UNHCR representative in Honduras.
The UN agency recorded some 14,000 Honduran "refugees or asylum seekers" in 2014. Last year, there were more than 300,000, mainly in the United States or Mexico.
Together, those displaced internally and those seeking refuge abroad total "more than half a million, out of a population of ten million" inhabitants, or five percent of the population, said Lo.
She said a 2023 law passed to prevent internal displacement and protect those who had been forced to relocate, was a positive step.
To combat gang activity, authorities imposed a state of emergency in December 2022, allowing arrests without a warrant.
Under this measure, the leftist government of President Xiomara Castro deployed thousands of police and military personnel across the country.
Security Minister Gustavo Sanchez said 12,000 weapons have been seized and 4,500 narcos and gang members arrested.
But police raids are also causing forced displacement.
"The state of emergency has had a significant impact on forced displacement. We have identified cases where, due to constant searches by the national police, people are being forced to leave their homes," said Reyes.
P.Sousa--PC