00:00The Naco Villa in northwestern Honduras will be the site of the newly announced mega prison
00:07which aims to emulate El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, SECAD.
00:12Gerardo Torres Elaya has the details.
00:17Reforms to the penal code, the classification as terrorists of any individual so designated by the state
00:23and the promise to build a new mega prison modeled after El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, SECAD,
00:31formed the foundation of the new security strategy being promoted by the government of Honduras.
00:38The country's penitentiary system is not the problem.
00:42The problem is impunity that exists in Honduras.
00:46I can tell you that at this moment there are 9,000 individuals deprived of their liberty.
00:52within the country's penitentiary system.
00:56Of these, 50 persons have been sentenced,
01:00while the other 50 persons are,
01:04for all practical purposes,
01:06considered innocent until proven guilty by a component card.
01:13In addition to concerns regarding human rights violations
01:16stemming from the new powers that the Honduran state has granted itself,
01:21residents of the NACO Valley in the Department of Santa Bárbara
01:24are worried about the arrival of the new prison in the region.
01:31It's not enough for the National Party to have brought a maximum security prison to the area
01:36between municipalities of Wallala and Ilama in Santa Bárbara,
01:40a move that has brought insecurity, uncertainty, and problems to the local residents.
01:45But now they also intend to establish another prison in La Sequia,
01:51located in the NACO Valley.
01:54The country's intention of hope no one in the local population welcomes this.
02:01In just nine months since taking office,
02:04the Honduran government has strayed from its initial promise to prioritize public health,
02:08redirecting those resources instead toward bolstering an improvised security strategy,
02:14a move intended to boost its popularity which already has fallen below 25%,
02:19a historic low for a leader's first year in power.
02:24It's extraordinary that they had the deconstruction of a laboratory
02:28which was intent to produce medicine for the state hospital system
02:33and was being built in the NACO Valley
02:36under the leadership of a war-renowned scientist, Dr. Mary Vallecillo,
02:42only to not deal with a maximum security prison in its place.
02:47With the reforms to the Penal Code, Honduras' new mega prisons could end up filled with citizens
02:53who protest against the government, defend the environment,
02:56or express themselves through social media,
02:59all while failing to make any real impact on criminal structures
03:02and sacrificing the limited budget that had been allocated for improving the public health system.
03:08For Telesur in English, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
