The Airport Shootings: A Wake-Up Call

This may be one of those watershed crisis moments that either serves as a wake up call for the government to finally develop an effective strategy to combat organized crime and gangs, funded by the trafficking of illegal drugs, or it will mark the beginning of a new wave of more brazen and visible attacks by those emboldened by the government's apparent helplessness and inaction.

Honduras Weekly
News of the shootings at Ramón Villeda Morales international airport in San Pedro Sula on Friday evening has now begun to be splattered across the pages of newspapers around the world and broadcast via television and radio. The story has been picked up by the AFP, AP, EFE and UPI news wire services and reported by CNN International. Consequently, it has already been written up in newspapers such as The Washington Post, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, The Kansas City Star, and Newsday. The headlines read... "6 Killed, 3 Wounded in Honduras Airport Shooting" and "Gunmen Kill 6, Wound 3 in Parking Lot of Honduran Airport" and "Six Gunned Down Outside Honduras Airport". And this story is just starting to get coverage. By the end of this week, Honduras' reputation as one of the most violent countries in the world will have grown exponentially.

The government of Honduras has a public relations nightmare on its hands. It is one thing to have to deal with figures such as 86 homicides per 100,000 people, which places Honduras at the top of the heap in terms of murders. The challenge, however, of having to respond to a brutal and mass attack in the parking lot of the country's busiest and most important airport is of another order of magnitude altogether.

This may be one of those watershed crisis moments that either serves as a wake-up call for the government to finally develop an effective strategy to combat organized crime and gangs, funded by the trafficking of illegal drugs, or it will mark the beginning of a new wave of more brazen and visible attacks by those emboldened by the government's apparent helplessness and inaction.

If it is the former, then Honduras may still be able to convince the world that it is a place worth visiting, assisting, and investing in. If it is the latter, then the country will be in an even deeper bind than even its traditional pessimists and fear mongers could ever contemplate.

Police reports indicate that the killings involved two rival gangs from La Ceiba called “Los Grillos” and “Los Pelones”. The main target was gang member Olvin Francisco Castro Guevara, who had just arrived aboard a commercial flight from Miami with his wife and two children. Apparently, 10 masked gunmen carried out the well-coordinated attack in a period of about two minutes, opening fire on four luxury SUVs as they left the parking lot. According to local police commissioner Julian Hernández, most of the victims were in their 20s. Mr. Castro's wife was injured in the crossfire. The two children were not hurt.

But it would be a mistake if the government and the business community in Honduras were to try and sugarcoat and write off what occurred as nothing more than another isolated gang-related confrontation. The idea that tourists, volunteer mission groups, and business investors will continue to be comforted by such pronouncements and that their emotional tolerance is endlessly elastic is both unreasonable and naïve. (10/16/11)