Caracas World's Most Dangerous City, Report Says

Caracas, Venezuela's capital, has once again been named world's most dangerous city, according to a new report released by a Mexico-based nongovernmental organization.

The Venezuelan commercial and cultural center, home to more some 3.3 million inhabitants, recorded 3,946 homicides in 2015, which accounts for almost 120 murders for every 100,000 residents, the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice detailed in its report. With that figure, the capital superseded San Pedro Sula in Honduras, which had a rate of about 111 homicides.

San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Homicide Numbers Drop

San Pedro Sula, Honduras' commercial hot spot, was previously named most dangerous in the Citizen Council list for four consecutive years. But Venezuela's increasingly volatile economic and political situation seem to have contributed to the rise of violent crime in that country's capital.

José Antonio Ortega Sánchez, the president of the independent Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, said in a statement that San Pedro Sula had achieved a "significant decline in homicide numbers."

Ortega Sánchez's organization, meanwhile, decried the fact that 50 of the world's most dangerous cities can be found in Latin America. El Salvador's capital of San Salvador (198 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants); Acapulco, Mexico (105); Maturín, Venezuela (86); Tegucigalpa, Honduras and surroundings (74); Valencia, Venezuela (72); Palmira, Colombia (71); Cape Town, South Africa (66); and Cali, Colombia (64) round out the top 10 of the tragic list.

Most Cities on List in Brazil

Of the top 50 cities and metropolitan areas detailed, 21 can be found in Brazil, eight in Venezuela, five in Mexico, four in South Africa, four in the United States, three in Colombia and two in Honduras, the Citizen Council noted.

Meanwhile, the latest edition of the annual account also made for some good news for certain cities across the continent: Municipalities including Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Medellín, Colombia; as well as a the Mexican cities of Chihuahua, Cuernavaca, Juárez, Nuevo Laredo and Torreón are no longer included as their homicide numbers have dropped significantly.