When people think of the most dangerous places in Latin America, Colombia usually comes to mind. But Wednesday's Foreign Policy Magazine ranked Caracas, Venezuela, as the "murder capital of the world". Caracas has a homicide rate of 130 per 100,000 residents. You can read the full article here: Article
I don't know whether you know, but that dubious honor was once with Medellin. That was in the 80'-ies and early nineties, when Pablo Escobar, the biggest gangster of all times all but owned the city. Boy, Medellin has come a long way since these times! Pablo Escobar got killed in 1992 by Colombian and American police. Today, the homicide rate in Medellin is 30 per 100,000 residents. That's 23% of the rate of Caracas. That's very close to he homicade rate of Philadelphia in 2006 (the newest statistic I could find quickly), was 27 homicides per 100,000 residents. I have nothing against Philadelphia (as a matter of fact, I've never been there), I'm just trying to put things into perspective. You can read the statistic about Philadelpia here: Article.
I remember returning from a 4-weeks trip to Medellin 2 years ago, and the only time I felt threatened during the entire trip was when I took the Metro in Manhattan, because I had to stay in New York City on my trip home.
I'm not saying there is no crime in Medellin. But the picture the public has about this city is severly distorted by the media and by the violent history this city has.
So if you think that Medellin is more dangerous than American cities, think again.
