Honduras named murder capital of the world

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Aljazeera

Honduras named murder capital of the world
A violent death every 74 minutes has earned this small Central American country the dubious title.

Last Modified: 23 Aug 2012 18:15

Honduras has the highest rate of homicide in the world, four times higher than that of Mexico, according to the United Nations.

It is estimated that there is a violent death every 74 minutes in the small Central American country with a population of just eight million people.

Citizens have taken to arming themselves in self-defence, as some blame the growing number of criminals coming from abroad for the problem.



Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/video/americas/2012/08/201282317422835135.html

[hack89]

1. Here is the UN report on murder

some interesting data including murder stats on every country. South America, Central America and the Caribbean are the three deadliest regions (primarily due to drug violence and poverty). Africa is right behind primarily due to political instability and civil strife.

http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Homicide/Globa_study_on_homicide_2011_web.pdf

[flamingdem]

2. This never would have happened if that coup didn't take place

Too sad for words

[hack89]

3. It is more complex than that

besides political violence there is also the issue of Mexican drug cartels have moved into Hondouras.

In 2009, the coup against the government of President Manuel Zelaya brought a wave of political killings. And now Hondurans must contend with the presence of Mexican drug cartels that have pushed south and gained a foothold.

* The 2009 coup brought a wave of political killings
* Mexican drugs cartels now operate in Honduras
* It's estimated that 79% of all cocaine flights from South America to the US stop in Honduras
* There is one gun in Honduras for every 10 people, according to the UN
* Police corruption allows violent crime to go unpunished
* Two-thirds of Hondurans live in poverty

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17870673

CNN's "Narco Wars" focuses on Honduras and Guatemala because these two countries have become the key corridor for cocaine coming to the United States from South America. This has coincided with a dramatic spike in homicide rates, according to the United Nations. In Honduras, homicides have more than doubled between 2005 and 2010, the United Nations reports.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/world/americas/narco-wars-guatemala-honduras/index.html

[flamingdem]

4. Well yes it would have been a problem, but the immense corruption

and climate of violence would have prevented the designation of Honduras as Most Violent - I believe it flows from the top to a great extent and Zelaya made the people of Honduras his priority.

[Bacchus4.0]

10. the violence began skyrocketing under Zelaya

he was completely corrupt, ignoring Congress and the Supreme Court. Not to say Lobo is any better or even remotely competent.

[Judi Lynn]

15. We absolutely never heard of excessive violence in Honduras, even through the corporate media.

Everything we've seen since then ALWAYS says the violence precisely seemed to explode after the coup.

The country's most powerful man, who also is known to be a narcotrafficker, was one of the main pushers of the violent coup, and has been using the country's military police to violently throw Hondurans off the land given to them by the Honduran government under Zelaya, which he claims for himself.

His own security forces have murdered some of them point blank, and no one of them have been checked on it.

That's the kind of crap running the country now.

[Bacchus4.0]

18. Those of us in the know have known murder in Honduras has been going up for years now

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate_by_decade

In addition, the most recent UN report, El Salvador is right up there with Honduras in Central America and Guatemala is up there too. Neither of their violence rates can be attributed to a coup. Nor in Venezuela which is the highest in South America with 2011 being the worst year ever.

Country 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
El Salvador[44] 60 60 47 56 65 62 65 57 52 71
Honduras[45][46][47] 50 54 56 34 32 35 43 50 58 67
Jamaica[44] 34 44 40 37 55 62 50 58 60 62
Guatemala[48][46] 26 25 31 35 36 42 45 45 49 52

[ZombieHorde]

5. When in Rome...

Sorry, bad joke.

[Arctic Dave]

6. This will really hurt a few peoples on this sites feelings.

How will they demonize Hugo Chavez now?

[oberliner]

7. Venezuela sees 'record murder rate' in 2011

The Venezuela Violence Observatory says at least 19,336 people have been killed this year, an average of 53 a day.

The figures suggest Venezuela's murder rate is the highest in South America and four times that of Mexico.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16349118

[Arctic Dave]

12. Have taken a look at that organization?

Not exactly a winner.

[oberliner]

17. Do you have stats from a more credible organization?

Please post if you do.

[Bacchus4.0]

11. Venezuela is the highest in South America and keeps going up n/t

s

[limpyhobbler]

8. I suppose they won't be putting that on the tourism brochure.

I feel like somehow I am responsible for this as an American, but don't ask me how I'll never be able to explain it.

[carla]

9. Consider the politics of the client state.

The special interests/vested interests that "run" Honduras are kowtowing to US imperial power/foreign policy. It benefits them economically, militarily and is essentially a system of organized corruption. The cost is deathsquads, political murders, human misery and slavery for the poor caught up in the struggle for a decent life. As an American, you share in these developments as a citizen of the US empire. But I doubt that you are in any position to alter this foreign policy.
You and I are in the category of peasants and activists and are likely targets in the indiscriminate way that state-terror makes us all targets. The US government is a nasty player, and as we know, such terror tactics are aimed at breaking the will of the people. The narcos are part of the game, as one Mexican ex-foreign minister has claimed. We need to see that the people who claim to be the protectors are actually just bad guys in white. In this game of geopolitics, there are no real white hats.

[byeya]

13. Honduras is often described as a US aircraft carrier because of all the military bases

on its soil.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Right! At least two of them have been opened since the violent coup against President Zelaya.

Reagan also used Honduras as the aircraft carrier from which he launched monstrosities against the other Central American peoples during his horrendous aggression against the poor of Central America.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Human rights in Honduras: State Department looks the other way

Human rights in Honduras: State Department looks the other way

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the U.S. State Department says the Honduran government is taking adequate measures to address congressional concerns about human rights.

By Dana Frank
August 24, 2012

Honduras is under siege. Its judicial system is almost completely dysfunctional, and more than 10,000 complaints of human rights abuses by state security forces have been filed in the last three years, according to the Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras. At least 23 journalists have been killed since 2009. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have all raised grave concerns about the country's dire situation.

But despite all of this overwhelming evidence, the U.S. State Department this month reported that the Honduran government is taking adequate measures to address congressional concerns about human rights. This clears the way for U.S. funds to flow to the repressive government of President Porfirio Lobo, who came to power in 2009 in a military coup that deposed democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya.

In its 2012 appropriations bill, passed in December, Congress required that before 20% of a portion of U.S. police and military aid to Honduras can be released, the State Department has to report that the Honduran government is implementing policies to ensure freedom of expression, freedom of association (including labor rights) and due process of law, and to ensure that military and police personnel who have violated human rights are being investigated and prosecuted. According to an official statement just issued by the State Department, Honduras has met most of those criteria. Now more than $50 million in U.S. security and development aid can be released to Honduras.

What was the State Department thinking? The Lobo regime is corrupt from top to bottom, as even some of its own officials admit, interlaced with drug traffickers and organized crime. The police have been accused of criminal activity and have been implicated in prominent killings. The police, together with others that serve the country's elites — the military, paramilitaries and private security guards — continue to wage a vicious war on the political opposition.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-frank-honduras-human-rights-20120824,0,5575021.story