In Honduras, crime is down but life is hard and jobs are few
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras - Less than a decade ago, when Honduras was the homicide capital of the world and this industrial city was the homicide capital of Honduras, the neighborhood of Rivera Hernandez was usually deserted after dark. Residents cowered in their homes, hiding from murderous gangs.
Today, there is less to fear. On a recent warm evening, teenagers kicked around a soccer ball as a vendor selling yam chips circled with a pushcart and a high school marching band practiced nearby.
The transformation is thanks in part to hundreds of millions of dollars the United States has spent to help Honduras fight crime.
The aid has flowed based on a simple hope: If the streets were safer, fewer people would migrate north.
But the reality has proved much more complicated. Though the country's homicide rate has fallen dramatically, the number of people fleeing Honduras in recent years has not - a fact on display this fall when thousands of people joined so-called migrant caravans and began trekking north.
The reasons for
