Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world, with 86 murders per 100,000 people. El Salvador has the second highest homicide rate, with 70 murders per 100,000 people, and Guatemala comes in close behind with 41 murders per 100,000 people.
as Central America’s “northern triangle”, this region has long been rife with
gangs and organised crime, and in recent years, infiltration by the drug trade
has ratcheted up the violence even further.
Once the US
Coast Guard shut down the Caribbean’s drug trafficking route in the 1990s,
Mexico became the main middle man between the world’s biggest cocaine producers
– Colombia, Peru and Bolivia – and the world’s biggest cocaine consumer – the
United States. In recent years, countries in Central America have emerged as
important land-based distribution points, especially as the cartels in Mexico
face an increasing crackdown in the so-called war on drugs. Among other Mexican cartels, the
Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel are now fighting over territories in Central
Yet, the US
and the UK have not issued travel warnings for Honduras, El Salvador or Guatemala.
Canada and Australia only advise exercising “a high degree of caution”, while
New Zealand notes that there is “some risk” in travelling to these
nations. Meanwhile, cocaine-producing Colombia and cocaine-transiting Mexico are
plagued by travel warnings. So why are there warnings for some narco-trafficking
countries and not others?
Bidois, a former UN security advisor who runs the New Zealand-based travel
security firm Fear Free, said governments take many factors into
consideration before instituting a travel warning, and crime is more likely to
precipitate a travel warning if foreign nationals have been actually singled
out as targets.
“A lot of
the violence in these countries is violence between the different pandillas, or gangs,” explained Vanda
Felbab-Brown, an expert in illicit economies and a foreign policy fellow at the
Brookings Institution, a US-based think tank. “There is the possibility of
violence against tourists, but such violence is not going to be homicides.” The
biggest concern for travellers is that high murder rates open the floodgates
for other types of crime. Law enforcement officials overwhelmed with murder
cases are strapped for resources, a vulnerability that pandillas take full
“There is a
lot of kidnapping, robbery, extortion – that’s something tourists need to be
concerned about,” said Felbab-Brown. But even these crimes will not typically
target run-of-the-mill tourists, since pandillas are more interested in
prominent figures worth large sums of money.
enforcement agents estimate that 25 tons of cocaine pass through Honduras each month,
and nearly 60% of all cocaine coming into the US has transited
through Central America, according to the US government. In 2008, Central
American countries seized three times the amount of cocaine that was found in Mexico and
Colombia combined. The Guatemalan government approximates that two-fifths of the homicides in its country can be attributed to
the drug trade.
crime in the northern triangle is not entirely owed to drug trafficking. Street
gangs in the northern triangle also fight deadly battles often unrelated to the
drug trade. In the 1980s, many Salvadorans fleeing civil war emigrated to the
United States city of Los Angeles, where gang activity was rampant. Clinging to
their own, some formed new gangs. Then, in the 1990s, thousands of undocumented
Salvadoran immigrants were deported back to their home country, bringing gang life
with them. These gangs, or maras, spread through other northern Central American
countries, as mara members moved back and forth between the US and El Salvador.
The region’s poverty and instability made it particularly susceptible to this
permeating gang culture.
hands of both narco and gang activity, people are dying at a higher rate today in Guatemala and El Salvador
than during those countries’ civil wars.
violence is spilling over into the rest of Central America as well. Beautiful
Belize has been infected by drug trafficking organisations and now has the sixth highest murder rate in the world. Yet the country is
still a popular stopover for cruises, and, being that it is home to the world's second longest barrier
reef, impressive eco-tourism attractions and relaxing white-sand beaches, tourism is still one of its top
sources of revenue. The UK government recommends that tourists avoid certain
parts of Belize City, including George Street and Kraal Road, which have been
known to attract gang violence, especially at night.
richest country in Central America, is relatively safe, drawing travellers to
its national parks and beaches. But even Panama has seen its murder rate
double in the past
four years. Remote areas are sometimes used by drug traffickers from
neighbouring Colombia, and for this reason, the Australian government warns
against all travel to the Darien Gap, which begins at the end of the Pan
American highway at Yaviza and ends at the Colombian border.
bordering Honduras, Central America’s poorest country, Nicaragua, has a lower
murder rate than every country in the region besides Costa Rica. Nicaraguan officials say this is because of the country’s
robust law enforcement. But Felbab-Brown offered another explanation: “It’s not
that Nicaragua has reduced violence [more than the other countries]; it’s that
they have not experienced the same level of violence, the same formation of
pandillas, and the same level of drug trafficking.”
But that could
be changing. Two months ago, Julio César Osuna, a substitute magistrate on
Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council, was arrested on charges of drug smuggling, money laundering and
selling fake IDs to
foreign drug traffickers. Osuna is allegedly connected with two Central
American drug cartels, Los Charros and a cartel led by drug lord Alejandro
Jiménez, who is currently under arrest for the alleged murder of Argentinian
folk singer Facundo Cabral. If the crackdown on the drug trade is intensified
in Central America’s northern triangle, violent drug trafficking could become
more and more prevalent in Nicaragua.
visitors to Nicaragua, the US government recommends taking extra precaution in
urban areas, especially in the capital of Managua.
Rica, crime has also increased in the past few years, but the popular tourist
destination remains the safest country in Central America. “If I was asked to
visit a place in the region, I would go to Costa Rica,” said Bidois. “…[I]t is
safer and more welcoming than most other nations in the area.”
is the least safe part of Central America, the northern triangle does receive
tourists seeking Mayan ruins, volcanoes, beaches and jungles. While safety is a
concern all over the region, the Australian government has issued a travel
warning urging tourists to reconsider their need to travel to the Péten section of northern Guatemala, a jungle
area bordering Mexico that is known for narco activity. Throughout Guatemala,
the US government recommends travelling in groups and with reputable tour
Central America, travellers should take precautions. Bidois suggested that
tourists register with their governments’ travel websites and get as much
government-provided advice as possible. Visitors should stay alert and on guard
in public places since pickpocketing, robberies, carjackings, assaults and ATM
scamming are common in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Unmarked vehicles
or unofficial taxis should be avoided entirely. Bidois also discouraged the use
of public transportation in urban areas and warned that caution should be taken
at beaches, especially in El Salvador. Always keep your belongings in hand, and
try not to wear flashy clothing or jewellery that might make you stand out as a
target. Lastly, Bidois highly recommended purchasing travel insurance for trips
to Central America.
explicit travel warnings, though, for the bookends of this region – Colombia to
the south and Mexico to the north. Although the safety situation has been
improving in both countries over the past couple years, they are still hotspots
for crime. In Mexico, cities near the border with the United States should
especially be avoided. In Colombia, the tourist and business
destinations of Bogota
and Cartagena have become safer, but travellers should still always keep conscious of their surroundings,
since there remains the potential for crime and violence.
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