REUTERS/Lunae Parracho A Brazilian drug gang member nicknamed Poison, 18, poses with a gun atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013.
That's the most striking takeaway from a ranking of the most violent cities compiled earlier this year by Mexico's Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. The ranking doesn't count deaths in war zones or cities with unavailable data.
Thirty four of the fifty worst cities were located in the region, including repeat murder capital of the world - San Pedro Sula, Honurusa - which saw 187 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013 and is getting steadily worse. A full one-third of global homicides occur in Latin America even though the region has just 8% of the world's population, according to United Nations data.
Drug trafficking, gang wars, political instability, corruption, and poverty combine to cause the region's elevated violence.
US cities also made the list, led by Detroit at number 24 and New Orleans at number 26.