“Our gang is the 18th Street gang. They’ve been in control [of the neighborhood] for five years and that keeps things calm,” Honduran Executive Director Pascual Torres explains after learning about the May 4 New York Times article, “Inside Gang Territory in Honduras: Either They Kill Us or We Kill Them.”
The NYT journalists spent weeks in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where the larger of our two clinics is situated. They describe a neighborhood located a 15-minute drive from our own where young men try to protect their families and friends from gang violence. Their story is shocking yet familiar.
Our patients and staff live in one of the world’s most deadly cities with little relief from the violence. “Underpinning nearly every killing is a climate of impunity that, in some [Central American] countries, leaves more than 95 percent of homicides unsolved,” the journalists write.
We counter the grave insecurity and brutality with an oasis of beauty, love and comprehensive care of the physical, social and mental health needs of our patients and their families.
