Youth Justice In Action

Fernando became a gang member at the age of 10 and was behind bars by his late teens. But now he’s put his past behind him and is working with an organisation which rehabilitates former gang members in Honduras.

Tattoos are a mark of the pandillero in Honduras. They bear witness to their crimes. The public view young people with tattoos with a mixture of fear and hatred. “Just because we have tattoos, we live outside society. We want to tackle this”, says Fernando.

Every time former gang members (pandilleros) leave their house, they put their lives on the line. The police regard them with disdain. “It’s as easy for them to shoot me three times in the head as it is for you to write these words”. It would just be considered one less pandillero on the street. Staff and volunteers like Fernando are threatened on a daily basis. One rehabilitated pandillero was stopped, picked up and held in prison without charge. He recalls:

“I was riding my bike to the office carrying nothing but my Bible, and I was stopped. I was nearly killed. I showed them my carnet (an ID card signed by the local priest testifying to the holder’s rehabilitation and tattoo removal process)… they didn’t believe me. The situation is mad at the moment, dangerous… If they find us they kill us. Pandilleros have always been persecuted. We did wrong as young lads, but it’s now worse than ever”.

Fernando has seen so many of the people he knew killed. All of them had tried to remove their tattoos. When talking to us, Fernando pulls down his cap to disguise his many facial tattoos. Some are being removed using a facial cream. They can be removed with laser treatment, but it’s really painful.

The Honduran administration has long used one policy for pandilleros – repression. With the former Ministry of Security devolving much of its power to the police, Fernando and his colleagues hope the situation will improve. Yet there is no guarantee. “The police need rehabilitating as well as the pandilleros. They use drugs and alcohol. They are corrupt. You cannot trust them.”

Fernando hopes to encourage officials to support rehabilitation initiatives rather than repression. For his part, Fernando plans to open a rehabilitation centre for 400 former gang members, led by 40 volunteer ex-pandilleros. He has already raised the money to do it. “It’s a longer process, but repression doesn’t work.”