Source: The Honduras Institute of Tourism

San Pedro Sula is the 2nd largest city in Honduras with a population of over 600,000 It is in the north only a few miles from the coast.

Facts

Population: 873,000 (metro area including Choloma and La Lima.)
Sula
Elevation:256 ft.

A June, 2013 Hear & Now NPR report, The World's deadliest City" talks about San Pedro Sula and the drug trade.

1,200 people killed last year. (137 per 100,000 population. New Orleans the highest in the US [2005] had 52 murders per 100,000. Ciudad Juárez had 105 in 2011)

Reasons:
1. Tighter surveillance in the Caribbean has lead drug traffickers to make shorter less direct flights switching to smaller planes or boats in Nicaragua and then to Honduras. Four major local criminal groups that offer services to international trafficking have close links with groups in Honduras.

2. San Pedro Sula is close to the coast with undeveloped areas in between.

3. 42% of cocaine entering the US (The world's largest consumer) from South America goes thru Honduras.
90% of drug flights out of South America stop in Honduras.

4. Gang members deported from the US were sent to Honduras.
The Mara Salvatrucha and 18th St gangs which were especial violent just declared a truce. Hundreds of the country's estimated 65,000 gang members fill the town's hot, overcrowded prison.

5. Weak government

Congress has held up aid to Honduras because of human rights violations.
The State Department is still supporting them.

San Pedro Sula Web Pages at:
The Honduras Institute of Tourism
Yahoo