Honduras

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NJ Student Swept Out to Sea for 16 Hours

Heather Barnes cramped up while collecting coral samples in Honduras

(Newser) - A college student from New Jersey says she was stranded at sea for 16 hours while swimming off Honduras and is now safe. Heather Barnes went to collect coral samples for a project she's doing at New College of Florida at 4am Friday when she says she started to...

Why the World's Murder Capital Is So Messed Up

Drug trafficking, geography make Honduras the most dangerous country on Earth

(Newser) - Honduras has officially taken the crown as the world's most violence-riddled country, with an average of 20 people killed a day in a country the size of Tennessee, reports NPR , which took a trip there to get a look at what's causing all this killing. As in many...

Lost 'White City' May Lie Hidden in Rainforest

Archeologists in Honduras spot intriguing topography using laser pulses

(Newser) - A little of bit of high tech may have found what 16th-century conquistadors could not: the legendary Ciudad Blanca, or White City, of Honduras. Archeologists think they've spotted the ruins of some kind of metropolis hidden by the Mosquitia rainforests, reports LiveScience . They won't know for sure until...

Honduras City Now World's Most Violent

San Pedro Sula becomes murder capital

(Newser) - A surge in drug-related violence has made San Pedro Sula in Honduras the murder capital of the world. Some 1,143 of its 719,447 residents were murdered in 2011, giving it a murder rate of 159 people per 100,000 citizens—even higher than Mexico's Ciudad Juarez, which...

Killing in Honduras: Is DEA Overstepping Its Bounds?

DEA says strategy is working, human rights groups not so sure

(Newser) - The Drug Enforcement Agency has confirmed that its agents shot a suspected drug pilot dead in Honduras last week, the AP reports. An agency spokeswoman says that a twin-engine plane carrying cocaine from Colombia crashed in eastern Honduras while being pursued by government aircraft. One pilot was injured in the...

Firefight May Blow Cover on DEA Role in Honduras

Mayor says agents mistook villagers for drug smugglers, killing 4

(Newser) - DEA agents in "commando-style" units have been quietly helping Honduran police go after drug smugglers, but a firefight this month may make it a lot harder to keep the operation low-key, reports the New York Times . A local mayor says a helicopter with DEA agents and Honduran cops fired...

Farmworkers Seize Land in Massive Honduras Protest

Plantations are on public land, activists say

(Newser) - Honduras saw its own kind of Occupy protest erupt yesterday. Thousands of impoverished farmworkers in the Central American nation took over land belonging to major landowners in a coordinated series of protests around the country, reports the BBC . The farmworkers insisted that the land was public land that small farmers...

Most Inmates in Honduras Fire Hadn't Been Convicted

Overcrowded prison was disaster waiting to happen

(Newser) - Of the 856 souls crammed into a Honduran prison that became a fiery inferno Tuesday night, more than half had never been charged, let alone convicted. Under the country's strict anti-gang laws, a simple tattoo was cause for incarceration, a practice the UN calls a violation of international law....

Toll in Honduras Prison Fire Rises Past 300

About 500 inmates escaped

(Newser) - The numbers are settling in the horrific fire inside a packed Honduras prison: Authorities say 356 inmates are missing and presumed dead, many of whom were trapped inside their cells, reports the AP . About 475 escaped, with 21 reported injuries. According to some survivors, the blaze began when an inmate...

'Hellish' Honduran Prison Fire Kills 272

Many left to burn in their cells as guard could not be found

(Newser) - At least 272 inmates are dead after a devastating blaze swept a federal prison in central Honduras overnight, officials say. A fire department spokesman in Comayagua described a "hellish" scene in which many prisoners "burned to death or suffocated in their cells." Many were apparently left to...

World's Murder Capital Is Honduras, Where Drug Cartels Control Police and Politicians
 The World's 
 Murder Capital Is ... 
interactive map inside
Jan 22, 2012 5:44 PM CST

The World's Murder Capital Is ...

... a country even more dangerous than Mexico or Iraq

(Newser) - Violence in Honduras is so widespread—so steeped in drug cartels and official corruption—that even Mexico and Iraq are safer places to reside. Yes, Honduras boasts the world's worst murder rate: 82.1 murders per 100,000 residents. By comparison, Mexico's is 18.1 and Iraq's...

Peace Corps Exits Honduras
 Peace Corps Exits Honduras 
Jan 17, 2012 7:12 AM CST

Peace Corps Exits Honduras

All 158 volunteers exited violence-plagued country yesterday

(Newser) - For the first time since 1963, there is no longer a Peace Corps presence in Honduras. All 158 volunteers exited the country yesterday, making good on a move announced in late December by the US group. The decision was made for safety reasons, explained the Corps. To wit, Honduras President...

Peace Corps Pulls Out of Bloody Honduras

And it won't send new recruits to El Salvador, Guatemala

(Newser) - Life in Honduras is no walk in the park: The country sees some 20 homicides daily, giving it the unfortunate title of Central America's most dangerous country. And so the Peace Corps has decided to pull out. Though it says the 158 volunteers it has in the country are...

Motorbike Passengers Banned in Honduras

Lawmakers try to curb drive-by killings

(Newser) - Honduran lawmakers have banned passengers on motorcycles in an attempt to curb drive-by killings, the BBC reports. With two such murders recently on the books—one of a journalist, the other a former government security adviser—the nation's Congress imposed the 6-month ban, and approved a new wiretapping law...

Heavy Rain Hammering Coffee Crops

Price climbs amid continued bad weather in Central America

(Newser) - As Central America is battered by downpours, the weather is taking a heavy toll on the region’s coffee growers. With the harvest about to begin, wind is knocking leaves off coffee trees, leaving unripe berries unprotected. Ripe berries are ruined by landing on soaking ground. Soon, your morning cup...

Feds Make Historic Cocaine Bust in Caribbean

Interception, seizure off Honduras coast a first for Coast Guard

(Newser) - The Coast Guard, working with FBI dive teams and the Honduran navy, has recovered 7.5 tons of cocaine worth $180 million from a drug submarine scuttled by smugglers off the coast of Honduras. The interception and seizure is the first of its kind in the Caribbean, the Miami Herald...

Honduras Will Bust Smokers ... at Home

Controversial law bans smoking within 6 feet of a non-smoker

(Newser) - There's no place like home—except for Hondurans looking to have a smoke. Starting yesterday, it is illegal to smoke in any closed or indoor space, or within 6 feet of any non-smoker, even outdoors. And although the law does not explicitly ban smoking in your own home, it does...

145 Killed in Central America Storm

Guatemala sinkhole swallows 3-story building

(Newser) - The first tropical storm of the season has claimed 145 lives and officials fear many more people have been buried by landslides in remote parts of Central America. In Guatemala, the hardest-hit country, at least 120 people were killed by tropical storm Agatha and its aftermath, including a man who...

Wisconsin First to Cut Nike Off Over Labor Concerns

School OK with losing $50K per year in deal

(Newser) - Concerns over Nike’s overseas labor practices moved the University of Wisconsin to cancel its contract today with the sportswear giant. The school is the first in the US to do so, though the move will cost it $50,000 a year. “Nike has not developed, and does not...

Conservative Wins in Testy Honduran Election

US recognizes result, though deposed president was never restored

(Newser) - Conservative Porfirio Lobo has emerged as the winner in yesterday's Honduran election, and appears set to take the central American nation's disputed presidency as it continues to reel from the crisis sparked by last summer's coup. After initially condemning the coup, Washington shifted gears to support this weekend's election, which...

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