
On any average day, the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula bears all the hallmarks of a war zone. The mortuaries overflow with bullet-ridden bodies, the hospital emergency rooms are inundated with the wounded. But for those people who call San Pedra Sula - recently crown the world's most violent city for the second year in a row - this is the daily reality of a region ripped apart by the drugs trade.
Gunmen have taken control of slums and villages, well aware that the police are ineffective and corrupt. San Pedro Sula recorded 1,218 homicides in 2012 (a rate of 3.3 murders a day). Reuters reported last year that San Pedro Sula is saddled with one of South America's weakest economies - and nearly 70 per cent of the population live in poverty.Many see crime as their only option. Or they leave, making the long trek to the United States.
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