Honduran president backs army role as police crisis continues

摘要

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo on 28 November 2011 received congressional backing to use the Honduran army for civilian policing amid a crisis in the national police force (Policia Nacional Honduras: PNH) and record high levels of violent crime. This is a controversial issue in Honduras, where the police and armed forces were only officially institutionally split in 1996, and where important sectors of civil society fiercely disagree with the notion of militarising the police. Nonetheless, the law and order situation in Honduras is so grave that the proposal passed the first stage of legislative approval with the support of two-thirds of Congress.