Drug War - Central America: Prison fire puts spotlight on Honduras meltdown

Reuters: "One of the world's worst prison fires has turned a spotlight on the crime, corruption and weak government that has made Honduras a case study for a nation in crisis.

... Even more feared than the Maras (local gangs) are Mexican drug cartels, which in recent years have extended their reach in Honduras. Small planes fly cocaine from Colombia into airstrips hidden in Honduran jungle and old banana plantations, from where Mexican gangsters smuggle it on towards the United States.

Mexico's wealthiest Sinaloa Cartel and the notoriously violent Zetas gang have both built up empires in Honduras, recruiting local hitmen and buying up jungle properties. Increasingly powerful and profitable, Mexican cartels spread their tentacles south as the government launched a military crackdown on them in their homeland five years ago." read more