Frank Viviano was robbed at gunpoint by Guatemalan gang members. He largely blames the drug trade for the violence in the country:
In 2010, only a handful of the world’s countries registered more than 40 homicides per 100,000 people. Guatemala is one of them; neighboring Honduras and El Salvador are two of the others. By comparison, the United States averages around 5 per 100,000 each year.
Behind this homicidal nightmare lies a 3,000-mile chain of narcotics supply and demand, anchored by pitiless Colombian and Mexican drug cartels on the one hand and the affluent U.S. market on the other. Central America’s remote jungle trails have become the principal transit route for an estimated 350 tons of cocaine shipped north annually by the cartels. Add in a burgeoning market in methamphetamines, and the total value of narcotics transported across Guatemala exceeds $100 billion, almost three times its entire legitimate GDP.
(Photo: Relatives and friends carry the coffin of 12-year-old Nery Pineda, who was allegedly killed by gang members for his refusal to join the gang, at the General Cementery of Guatemala City on April 20, 2012. Guatemala is one of the most violent countries in Latin America, with an average of 18 homicides per day. By Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 