VZCZCXRO1662
RR RUEHLMC
DE RUEHTG #1114/01 3101725
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061725Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1003
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEIAYF/ATO LATIN AMERICA
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 8176
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RHMFISS/CDR JTF-BRAVO
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUCNFB/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEPINS/HQ BICE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHINGTON DC 1240
RHEHAAA/THE WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RUEIAYF/USOFFICE ATO LATIN AMERICA WASHINGTON DC
RUMIAAA/USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001114 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
SAN SALVADOR FOR LEGATT 
HQ BICE WASHINGTON DC FOR NATIONAL GANG TASK FORCE 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR SMIG PINS PINR SOCI PGOV CVIS HO KCRM KJUS
SUBJECT:  TFHO1 Gangs Wage War While Police Distracted By Street 
Protests 
 
REF: 2008 Human Rights Report 
 
¶1. (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Since a June 18 prison escape by leaders of a 
Honduras transnational gang, a street war has killed at least 42 
people, including four police and nine civilian women and children, 
most in broad daylight.  The 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha 
(MS-13) gangs are exploiting the current political and security 
turmoil to fight for control of drug sales, weapons and human 
trafficking, and other criminal operations.  Two of the escapees 
were originally apprehended by Honduras Police (HNP) and FBI for 
kidnapping two AMCIT minors.  Honduran prison records, fingerprints 
and photographs of inmates are grossly inadequate and the identities 
of some of the escapees are still unconfirmed.  HNP and DHS/ICE 
indicate gang leaders move between Honduras, the United States and 
possibly Colombia.  Post is increasing programs to identify and 
apprehend transnational gang leaders.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (U)  Police informants report that the escape from the San Pedro 
Sula prison by 18 members of the 18th Street Gang on June 18 at 
18:00 local was an attempt to retake control of criminal operations 
usurped by the larger MS-13, especially in the western and northern 
corridor near Guatemala and the Caribbean.  In 2005, the two gangs 
extended to Honduras the "Sur-13" agreement reached in United States 
prisons, under which members of both gangs inside prison walls laid 
aside differences to work together under the Mexican Mafia. 
Boundaries between gang turfs in Honduran cities were to be 
respected and incursions against rival criminal operations 
discouraged.  18th Street has been the more violent of the two 
gangs, but in recent years the HNP has been successful in arresting 
most of its leaders.  In their absence, in 2008 MS-13 began 
violating the truce and taking over lucrative 18th Street 
operations, especially local drug distribution and sales.  Major 
gang crime in Honduras includes contract executions for Mexican drug 
cartels, as well as their own extortions, kidnappings, weapons and 
human trafficking, illegal immigration, asset laundering and shell 
companies.  Income from these operations is hard to estimate but is 
likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 
 
¶3. (U)  There have been at least four prison escapes or attempts 
since June, but only three gang escapees have been recaptured.  Six 
others were killed by the HNP and six by criminal rivals.  More than 
thirty revenge killings of gang members and ex-members have also 
occurred since the June mass escape.  The HNP Gang Unit now calls 
the spiral of violent reprisals an all-out gang war.  Attacks have 
included home invasions, massacres of entire families and shoot-outs 
in gas stations, in front of malls and markets, and on busy streets 
at rush hour, killing gang members from both sides. 
 
¶4. (U)  Police have captured or killed only a few suspects of these 
massacres.  On July 17, two MS-13 leaders with police uniforms were 
caught kidnapping a local merchant.  On August 19, four 18th Street 
members were intercepted by police during another kidnapping.  Armed 
with AK-47s, grenades and body armor, all four died in the ensuing 
firefight.  Two were escapees from the June San Pedro Sula prison 
break.  HNP has not identified the other two bodies but one carried 
_apparently Guatemalan identification documents. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Four police officers have also fallen in this gang war. 
Most ominous was the September 6 assassination of gang agent Enoc 
Castro, age 27, shot 30 times near his home by three suspected MS-13 
members.  Agent Castro was a close collaborator of the US Embassy in 
Honduras, and was probably targeted for his successful arrest 
record.  He was the first undercover agent buried by the HNP with 
full officer's honors.  A national manhunt is underway for his 
killers and the HNP is concerned more gang agents may be targeted. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  There are also suspicions that several recent homicides of 
suspected and confirmed gang members may actually be extrajudicial 
executions. Since September 25, at least seven young men have been 
 
TEGUCIGALP 00001114  002 OF 002 
 
 
executed near San Pedro Sula. Some had their hands bound behind 
their back, indicating the killings were not random drive by 
shootings, and all had their shirts pulled up, which may indicate 
the victims were not known personally to their killers, who may have 
been looking for gang tattoos.  A handwritten note with two of the 
bodies stated: "Cleaning up the city."  In the recent past, Honduras 
has experienced episodes of extrajudicial executions by vigilante 
groups with the apparent collusion of security forces (Ref). 
 
¶7. (SBU)  DHS/ICE and FBI have attempted to indentify all recent 
escapees, but Honduran prisons have photographs and fingerprints for 
barely half of gang inmates.  ICE and FBI Fingerprint ID Numbers and 
Immigration Lookouts have been issued for all escapees, but there is 
reliable information that the identities of several escapees are 
incorrect; some listed as killed may actually be at large.  ICE and 
FBI have documented many gang members and leaders operating between 
Honduras, neighboring Central American countries and the United 
States.  Flight of violent gang escapees to the United States is a 
serious concern. 
 
¶8. (SBU)  COMMENT:  The political crisis and suspension of both 
normal HNP operations and U.S-Honduran security cooperation are 
taking their toll.  Transnational gangs in Honduras are at war and 
are becoming increasingly violent over control of lucrative criminal 
enterprises, showing no concern for civilian casualties.  Gangs, 
organized crime and drug traffickers have exploited the post-coup 
diversion of police and legal manpower to sharply increase their 
illegal activities.  The HNP Anti-Gang Unit requires more support 
from other HNP branches and judiciary and from United States law 
enforcement to identify, locate and apprehend gang leaders.  ICE and 
INL are creating closer working relationships to train HNP gang 
investigators and pursue cases against gang leaders, including 
generating complete photographs and fingerprints of all gang members 
in Honduran prisons. 
 
¶9. (SBU)  Comment continued: Once the constitutional order is 
restored in Honduras and U.S. security activities can resume, ICE, 
FBI and INL plan to implement measures to counter the gang activity. 
 ICE and INL will support intelligence collection and cell phone 
blocking at Honduran prisons.  ICE and INL are currently vetting HNP 
agents for apprehending gang members moving illegally back and forth 
to the United States.  FBI and INL plan next year to create a 
Transnational Anti-Gang Unit and an automated fingerprint 
identification system in Honduras.  INL has significant funding to 
support vetted gang and anti-kidnapping units and improve 
prosecutions of violent gang criminals.  The gang war in Honduras is 
not over, and there is an increasing risk of flight by violent gang 
criminals to the United States.  Two upcoming cables will examine 
the growing sophistication of Honduran gangs and the increase in 
attempts to illegally enter and operate in the United States.  End 
comment. 
 
LLORENS