Two violent gun attacks rocked Honduras on Thursday, killing at least 16 people in the Central American nation.
The first incident occurred at a remote palm plantation in Rigores, in the Trujillo municipal area of northern Honduras. National Police spokesman Edgardo Barahona said 10 workers were shot dead at the scene, a figure expected to rise.
Barahona explained that distraught family members arrived to claim bodies before investigators could secure the crime scene. Local media reported that armed assailants fired indiscriminately at workers, including those gathered at a local church.
Photos showed bodies, some wearing heavy rubber work boots, lying outside. One report noted three sisters were among the dead.
While the motive remains unclear, northern Honduras has a long history of agricultural conflicts. Human rights experts warn that farmers and workers are often forcibly displaced by armed groups seeking control of fertile land, leading to deadly attacks.
Following the shooting, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Honduran armed forces, General Hector Benjamin Valerio Ardon, said the military would provide “all necessary logistics” and “full manpower” to track down the perpetrators.
In a separate development the same day, a second deadly incident occurred in the Cortes region of northern Honduras, near the Guatemalan border. In this case, police from the capital Tegucigalpa had arrived in Omoa, Cortes, to conduct an anti-gang operation. Authorities described what followed as an ambush.
According to reports, officers entered a building to search for suspects when they came under fire. Six police officers died, including a deputy commissioner named Lester Amador, according to the National Police. They belonged to the Anti-Gang, Gang and Organized Crime Police Agency (DIPAMPCO), a unit within the police force. Suspects may also have been killed or wounded in the attack.
After the two attacks, the National Police issued a statement saying it would “immediately carry out a direct intervention in the affected areas.” The statement added: “The state will act firmly to capture those responsible, protect vulnerable communities, and ensure comprehensive justice for all affected victims.”
Honduras has maintained a state of emergency annually since 2022 to combat crime. However, critics have condemned these emergency measures for weakening civil liberties and giving law enforcement unlimited powers, enabling human rights abuses.
The emergency decree expired in January with the inauguration of right-wing President Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, who prioritizes a hardline approach to security in Latin America. In March, Asfura participated in Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” conference in Florida, a meeting on regional security.
