Honduras Becomes Western Hemisphere Cocaine Hub

http://news.yahoo.com/honduras-becomes-western-hemisphere-cocaine-hub-145553646.html

This article talks about the position of Honduras a major transit route for drugs, especially cocaine. Apparently, about half of all the cocaine reaching the United States every month is unloaded in Honduras, which comes up to 20 - 25 tons. Whole villages are now part of the drug trade, and street gangs are creating a climate of violence that can only be compared to Kabul, Afghanistan. The homicide rate is euqivalent to 82, 1 killings for evey 100, 000 people. The govenrment, of course, says that fighting the cartels is at the top of the list, but the governemnt itself is far from stable, and corruption is rampant. Often, the police is actively involved in the cartels, and it is believed that many in the government are making a lot of money off of them, leaving the country in an extremely vulnerable position.

On a more personal note, this article hits very close to home due to my personal attachment to Honduras. I lived there when I was younger, my brother is from there, as is my foster sister. I still have very strong ties with people in Tegucigalpa and Copan. When I lived there, it was already routine to bribe the police (even my parents did it, in order to get out of bogus charges), but now, from what I hear from my friends, it's anarchy. They are scared to leave their homes after dark, and my foster sister, who married an American and now lived in Washington DC, is scared to go back, especially when her husband talks of going with her. She hasn't seen her family in over two years for these reasons. I have seen the good side of Honduras, and there is so much I love about it, that this breaks my heart.