Saturday, January 14, 2012
Journalist Israel Zelaya Diaz was murdered in San Pedro Sula (photo: CNN)
Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, is no longer the most deadly city in the world.
The infamous drug-war ravaged town has been passed up by San Pedro Sula in Honduras as the most violent place on earth.
According to Mexico's Civic Council on Public Security and Criminal Justice, a non-profit group, San Pedro Sula averaged 159 homicides per 100,000 people last year, followed by Ciudad Juárez, with 148 killings per 100,000.
Like its Mexican counterpart, San Pedro Sula is a major thoroughfare for the drug trade, resulting in dangerous levels of narcotics-fueled violence.
In addition to having the most murderous city, Honduras was ranked by the United Nations as the most deadly country in the world last year, with 82 killings per 100,000 residents.
San Pedro Sula and Juárez were followed on the violent city list by Maceió, Brazil (135) and Acapulco, Mexico (128). The highest-ranked U.S. city was New Orleans in 21st place, with 58 murders per 100,000 people. Detroit, St. Louis and Baltimore also ranked among the 50 worst.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
San Pedro Sula, Honduras Is the World’s Most Violent Place (by Nick Miroff, Washington Post)
San Pedro Sula, la ciudad más violenta del mundo; Juárez, la segunda (Seguridad, Justicia Y Paz)
Comments