Drug trade creates unstoppable murder rate in Central America

One in 50 men over the age of 20 in Central America will not reach 31 and  the number of murders is unstoppable says a UN report.

Each year, the odds of dying in a homicide rise in the region says  a published Global Study on Homicide United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Panama  although recording a smaller murder rate is not immune with an average of two murders a day, many of them of involving teenagers and 20-30 year olds.

Further north, the Mexican newspaper Reforma conducts a daily count of the dead in that country. According to data from that source , 10 022  people were executed from January to September this year That means that about 33 people were killed daily as a result of the scourge of violence that is shaking Mexico.

Since December 2006 when Mexico's President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug cartels and organized crime, until the end of last month, 24,197 have died. The death toll has been increasing every year. In 2007 there were 2,275  deaths, and in 2009, 6,587.

According to Reforma,  half of the deaths this year has been in the states of Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Guerrero and Sinaloa. Among the killed were 637 police officers, 52 military and 267 adolescents. 798 bodies showed signs of torture and  326 cases were beheaded.

Honduras and El Salvador top the list of the most violent countries in America, based on the rate of murders per 100 000 inhabitants. In El Salvador is  is 57, a figure described by   the World Health Organizationto as an "epidemic of violence."

Most of the crimes committed in these two nations are directly related to gangs and drug trafficking. The experts, based on official figures say that in El Salvador the number of murders since the civil war amounts to 74,000 in 19 years. During the war period that lasted 12 years, it is estimated that 75,000 people died.

Guatemala is considered by many analysts as a "narco-state" as drug cartels like Los Zetas, control the territory. This nation like El Salvador and Honduras is in the transit route of drugs to Mexico, and onward to the United States.

The Guatemalan authorities estimatesthat about 2,300 people have been killed in a violent manner from January this year until September 1. This represents an average of 17 murders a day in a country where about 50% of the population lives in poverty.

According to  the United Nations, Central America spends around 2.6% of gross domestic product  on safety. The nations of the region pay about 3 billion dollars a year in health care costs, which are a direct result of violence and crimes..

The illegal drug trade in Central Americ moves hundreds of millions of dollars a year. This lucrative business has made the Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, alias El Chapo, a billionaire.

Experts say he entered the drug business, in the early 1990's. In 1993 the Guatemalan authorities arrested him and extradited him to Mexico. In January 2001 he managed to escape from a maximum security prison. After his escape, returned to the front of the Sinaloa cartel which has existed for 40 years..

He is among the world's richest men according to  Forbes magazine.