2013 Dangerous Cities List Shows Latin America's Shifting Crime Landscape Marguerite Cawley - InSight Crime
go to original February 3, 2014

The 2013 list of the world's 50 most dangerous cities, compiled by an NGO from Mexico, shows how shifting criminal dynamics through the year have affected violence in places like Cali, San Salvador, Ciudad Juarez and Medellin.

San Pedro Sula, Honduras, is the most dangerous city in the world for the third year in a row, according to the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. The city posted a homicide rate of 187 per 100,000, up from 169 in 2012.

Caracas, Venezuela has moved from third place to second, displacing Acapulco, Mexico. Cali, Colombia has taken the fourth spot on the list, up from seventh in 2012, while El Salvador's capital San Salvador climbed from 44th on the list to 27th, with a 12-point growth in the homicide rate.

It is also noteworthy that seven provincial Brazilian cities were among the top 15 most dangerous cities in the world, while the traditional epicenters of Brazilian violence, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, were absent.

Meanwhile, major drops occurred in Medellin, Colombia - which has moved down from 24th on the list to 35th - and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which is down from 19th to 37th. The nearby city of Chihuahua, on the other hand, rose from 32nd place to 21st place, with a seven point increase in the murder rate.

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