Mayor Juan Carlos Zúniga explained that the money has been allocated to a sub-account (for security expenditures) of the managing trust for the municipality. This sub-account is shielded so that funds are exclusively for the needs in the area of security.

These security funds will be handled transparently through the use of a trust composed of two representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cortés (CCIC), two of the Municipal Corporation of San Pedro Sula, and two of the churches and civil society.

The Security Committee will meet again to establish priorities in relation to the projects to be carried out with these resources.  First tended to will be in the most vulnerable sectors of the city, especially where the highest rates of violence are recorded. The projects shall be carried out based on the Plan of Citizen Security and Violence (Plan de Seguridad Ciudadana y Violencia) 2013 – 2018,  certified by the Government and supported by USAID and the UNDP (United Nations Program for Development).

“We will work as a team with all the members of the Security Committee, priorities will be established, and we will work in places with the highest needs in the area of safety and violence prevention,” said the Mayor.

The Plan contemplates Security and Coexistence projects to prevent violence, such as lighting in high-risk places, creating recreation areas, landscaping and lighting signage. Each of the sectors represented in the Inter-Agency Security Committee will unveil their requests at the next meeting, which will be prioritized by the Committee.

The engineer Ernesto Lázaro, a representative of the CCIC, stated that the projects will be launched this month, with an immediate impact and substantial results.