We have conducted research on Honduras, canvassing a wide array of respected sources, including the U.S. State Department, The Economist, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations, PEN, and many others. Here's a sample of what we found.
Honduras is not considered a democracy but a hybrid regime. It has slid from 74th to 85th from 2008 to 2012, so it's going in the wrong direction. Transparency International ranks Honduras as the most corrupt country in Central America. The U.S. State Department estimates that 79% of all cocaine shipments originating in South America, the world's leading producer of cocaine, land in Honduras.
According to The Economist, the countries in the northern triangle of the Central American isthmus, which include Honduras, form what is now “the most violent region on earth”. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that in 2011 there were 92 murders per 100,000 people, making it the most violent country in Central America. The next year, in 2012, Honduras became the murder capital of the world, recording 7,172 homicides. In 2013, just last year, there were, on average, 10 massacres per month. A massacre is defined as an instance where three or more people are killed at once.
According to the Americas Policy Group, less than 20% of homicides are even investigated, never mind prosecuted, and they say this high level of impunity serves to mask political violence. Since 2010, there have been over 200 politically motivated killings. According to a 2013 Human Rights Watch report, Honduras is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists. According to the Honduras human rights commission, 36 journalists have been killed between 2003 and 2013, 29 since President Lobo—the one you just said that you were negotiating with—took office illegally in 2009.
Over 149 documented cases of extrajudicial killings by police were recorded in 2011 and 2012. In the last 18 months alone, at least 16 candidates and workers for the opposition party, Libre, have been assassinated. In June 2013, 94 members of the U.S. Congress called on the U.S. State Department to halt all military aid—