Las ciudades mas peligrosas de America Latina

I was reading univision.com today, and I HAD to blog about the most dangerous cities of Latin America in order to spread the word about how amazingly poor, violent, politically corrupt, and overall in need of desperate changes these places are. The numbers are going to shock you. They shocked me, and I even study these countries.

According to the photo essay univision.com put out today, Latin America is the most dangerous area in the world (28 homicides per 100,000 people, while the world average is 11 per 100,000, according to the World Bank). The number of homicides varies by country though, as Chile and Costa Rica : ) have 3 and 4 (respectively) per 100,000 while El Salvador, Brasil, and Colombia average 20. I have made a list and translated their essay so you could all see these statistics (the cities are ranked in order of most dangerous first):

1. Pernambuco (NE Brasil, state of Recife): largest # of weapons; 1.3 million people; 158 homicides (kids and adolescents) per 100,000 (highest in Latin America); poverty is the main cause.
2. Caracas (Venezuela): 3rd most cause of death especially between males 15-24; 4 million people; 133 assassinations per 100,000; Venezuela is 120th place on the world corruption list according to Transparencia International.
3. Guatemala (the whole country): here it is most dangerous to be a WOMAN (tortures and homicides in the country went up 18% last year, the most in the capital where the # of cases went up from 527 in 2004 to 624 in 2005), most women are raped before they are killed, the capital has 12,013,907 million people, and Guatemala is 122nd on the corruption list.

(okay breathe and wipe away the tears as I am trying to do...........)

4. San Salvador (El Salvador): 14,000 members of gangs who were blamed for 55.3% of the 3,043 homicides that occurred in all of El Salvador between January and October 2005, 3.1 million people in San Salvador, El Salvador is 52nd in corruption.
5. Cali (Colombia, 500 km SE of Bogota): 1.8 million people; stronghold of FARC (extreme right paramilitary group); 91 homicides per 100,000; Colombia is #61 on the corruption list.
6. Sao Paulo (Brasil): usual city on this list, Brasil is #54 on the corruption list, HUGE population explosion is a major problem (unemployment), 10.7 million people.
7. Rio de Janeiro (Brasil): 25% of Brasilian shacks are in Rio, constant struggles between police and drug dealers, 55 out of 100,000 homicides (rival gangs), 14,387,225 people in Rio.
8. Tegucigalpa (Honduras): 48 out of 100,000 homicides (mostly by young people), 65% of the 7 million people in Honduras are under 28 and most do not work or go to school (WOW), Honduras is 116th in corruption.
9. Valle del Cauca (Colombia): 3,200 homicides in 2005 mostly resulting from fights and arguments between [romantic] partners.
10. Medellin (Colombia): 2 million people; 56 homicides per 100,000; also kidnappings of members of government; extortion.
11. Ciudad Juarez (Mexico, northern state of Chihuahua on the border with US): women also attacked here (young women with no resources working in the factories of this border town).
12. Nuevo Laredo (Mexico, another border town): 351 assassinations mostly result from rival groups wanting to control this region for drug trafficking, 4th cause of death in this region behind heart diseases and diabetes.
13. Mexico City (Mexico): population of almost 20 million people (WOW), 2 out of every 10 people there are victims of some kind of crime, 19,663 victims per 100,000 people, 86% of people that live here feel insecure.

I hope people learned something here. Thanks to Univision for presenting this story, and don't be surprised if I change my dissertation research now.