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INSIDECOSTARICA.COM
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CENTRAL AMERICA
NEWS BRIEFS
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Monday 25 April 2011 |
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Honduras:
More
than 260
Young
People
Killed
in 3
Months
Tegucigalpa
- More
than 260
Hondurans
under
the age
of 23
were
killed
in
Honduras
in the
first
quarter
of 2011,
according
to Casa
Alianza,
a
nongovernmental
organization.
Executions
of young
adults
and
children
are
increasing
due to a
lack of
gun
control,
stepped-up
drug
trafficking,
and gang
or "mara"
activities,
the
organization
said.
Of the
total of
youngsters
killed
(264),
nearly a
quarter
of them
were
younger
than 18,
while
218 were
boys and
46 were
girls.
This
Central
American
country
of eight
million
registers
73
murders
for
every
100,000
people,
one of
the
highest
rates in
Latin
America,
according
to
Honduran
human
rights
commissioner
Ramon
Custodio.
Violence
causes
885
million
USD in
annual
losses
to the
country,
or 9.6
percent
of its
gross
domestic
product,
according
to a
World
Bank
report.
Sandra
Ponce,
special
attorney
for the
Inter-American
Human
Rights
Commission,
said at
least 15
violent
deaths
are
reported
in the
country
daily,
and no
investigations
are
carried
out.
There
have
been
6,200
violent
deaths
since
1998,
according
to Casa
Alianza,
one-third
of them
including
children,
and the
rest
including
youngsters
from 18
to 23
years of
age,
said the
national
coordinator
of Casa
Alianza,
Manuel
Capellan.
This ONG,
founded
over 30
years in
New
York,
deals
with
over
20,000
cases
yearly
of
street
children
and
homeless
youth in
Honduras,
Mexico
and
Nicaragua.
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