The rot spreads
Drug-trafficking gangs find a promising new home in some of the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the Americas
BATTLEFIELDS aside, the countries known as “the northern triangle” of the Central American isthmus form what is now the most violent region on earth. El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, along with Jamaica and Venezuela, suffer the world's highest murder rates (see map). The first two are bloodier now than they were during their civil wars in the 1980s.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "The rot spreads"
From the January 22nd 2011 edition
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