Of the world's 50 most dangerous cities, 43 are
located in Latin America and the Caribbean. InSight Crime looks at some of the
factors driving the violence.
Of the 50 urban areas with the highest homicide rates, 16 are located in Brazil, nine in Mexico, six in Colombia, and five in Venezuela (see map below). San Pedro Sula in Honduras was ranked as the most violent city in the world for the third consecutive year, followed by Caracas, Venezuela and Acapulco, Mexico.
InSight Crime has
identified the top five criminal dynamics that have helped make Latin America's
cities the most violent in the world:
1. Booming Domestic Drug
Markets
Various Latin American
countries have seen a substantial increase in the size of their domestic drug
markets, spurring the rise of local criminal groups. Brazil is now the world's
second largest market for cocaine and its derivatives, after the United States,
while Argentina, Peru and Colombia have also seen
significant growth in their domestic markets in recent years.
As local criminal groups
emerge to supply local markets, turf wars over transport and sales territory
can lead to spikes in murder rates. This is one of the factors driving
homicides in Brazil, which has seen the
domestic drug trade expand beyond Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and into the
rest of the country. Gangs have spread to the northern and
northeastern regions of Brazil, home to several of the cities on the
list including Salvador (#13), Natal (#12), João Pessoa (#9) and
Fortaleza (#7). The same dynamic is seen with larger criminal
organizations, like the First Capital Command (PCC), which originated in São
Paulo and now has a
presence
in 24 of Brazil's 27 states.
2. The Fragmentation of
Organized Crime
Latin America has seen
the fall of many major drug kingpins in recent years, causing criminal
organizations to splinter into smaller factions. Without the manpower to carry
out large-scale transnational drug trafficking operations, these smaller groups
typically turn to more localized -- and often more violent -- criminal
activities, like kidnapping and extortion. Splinter groups often
fight among themselves for control of local criminal businesses.
This is particularly
true in Mexico, where the security
forces have dealt heavy blows to criminal groups. The Zetas have lost several
high-ranking members in recent years, which has led to the
cartel's fragmentation into semi-independent cells. At least
three of the Mexican cities on the list -- Nuevo Laredo (#30), Victoria (#22),
and Torreon (#18) -- are situated in states with a significant
Zetas presence.
The Beltran Leyva
Organization (BLO) has also suffered a loss of leadership and split into
several rival factions, including criminal groups the Guerreros
Unidos and Los Rojos, which are engaged in a bloody turf war. These groups are fighting
over territory in the states of Guerrero and Morelos, home to two of the
cities on the list: Acapulco (#3) and Cuernavaca (#43).
In Guatemala, a 2013 spike
in murders coincided
with the deaths and arrests of criminal leaders. Anti-narcotics prosecutors
told local media that the power vacuum had spawned
splinter groups engaged in battles for control of the criminal
underworld. Guatemala City is number eight on
the list.
3. Drug Transit Nations
Become Crime Hubs
Countries that serve as
drug transit nations tend to see high rates of violence and crime. To
facilitate drug shipments through a country, transnational criminal
organizations typically hire local
groups
to guard and transport the shipments, and sometimes pay them in
drugs.
This can spur the development and increased sophistication of local gangs, as
well as the growth of domestic drug markets. Transnational criminal
organizations also set up
operations
in transit nations to oversee drug trafficking, and bring violence with them.
One example of this
phenomenon is Venezuela, home to five of the
world's most violent cities, including Caracas, which is ranked as number two. Venezuela is a major
transshipment point for Colombian cocaine and has seen Colombian criminal
groups battle for
control of drug trafficking routes. Four of the five Venezuelan cities
on the list are near the coast, and may serve as transit points for drug
shipments headed to the United States and Europe via maritime
routes.
Honduras has also seen
violence surge and street gangs grow more
sophisticated as the country has become a major drug
transit hub. Honduras is home to the world's
most violent city, San Pedro Sula, which is located near
the border
with Guatemala and close to Puerto
Cortes, Honduras' main port. The city
also has a major gang problem, with the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and Barrio 18 battling for
control
of the local drug trade, and the presence of
the Sinaloa Cartel.
4. Conflict and the
Legacy of Civil War
Civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua helped
give birth to Central America's ruthless gangs. The MS13, one of the region's
largest and most powerful street gangs, was founded in Los Angeles in the 1980s
by Central American refugees fleeing armed conflict. When the US government
deported these refugees in the late 1990s and early 2000s, those involved in criminal
groups transformed the war-torn Northern Triangle region -- made up of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras -- into a hub for gang
activity.
Armed conflict has also
led to considerable violence in Colombia, where guerrilla organizations have
battled the state for the last 50 years. The paramilitary groups that
purportedly formed to defend against the guerrillas have now morphed into
criminal syndicates known as BACRIM (a name derived from the Spanish
"bandas criminales" or "criminal bands"), which are
involved in turf wars over drug trafficking routes in major cities including
Cali (#4),
Medellin (#35), and Cucuta (#33).
5. Corruption and the
Criminalization of Local Government
Ties between criminal
groups and public officials play a crucial role in facilitating criminal
activity and creating a culture of impunity. Corrupt security forces can keep
criminal groups informed, shield them from law enforcement operations, and
facilitate drug shipments, while ties to politicians and local elites lend
criminals a façade of legitimacy.
This dynamic was made
painfully clear by a recent case involving the disappearance of 43 student
protesters in Guerrero, Mexico. The mayor and his wife
in the town where the students went missing allegedly
ordered the attacks, which authorities believe were carried
out by the Guerreros Unidos criminal group. Following the attacks, intelligence
reports indicated that 12 mayors from the state of Guerrero
may have links to organized crime.
Comments
Crime in South America is substantially worse
now in 2015 that it was in 2014. South
America has socialist dictators presiding over corrupt Marxist governments in
poor countries with organized crime entrenched and out of control. The rule of
law has failed. We in the U.S. are headed down the same path.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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