Mexico Violence Not High By Regional Standards (SLIDESHOW) - Huffington Post

• Dominican Republic: 25 per 100,000

  Dominican feminist activists hold placards as they protest against the murders of women, in front of the National Congress in Santo Domingo on July 12, 2012 during the day of national mourning against femicide. Between January and June 2012, there have been 108 women killed in the Dominican Republic, according to the organizations involved in the matter.

• Puerto Rico: 26.2 per 100,000

  The U.S. territory <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/11/16/puerto-rico-murder-rate-ties-record/">broke the record for most homicides</a> in its history in 2011.

• Bahamas: 27.4 per 100,000

  It may be a tourist paradise, but it's got a higher murder rate than Mexico.

• Colombia: 31.4 per 100,000

  A man walks by a picture of an assassinated member of the Patriotic Union political party at Bolivar Square in Bogota, Colombia, on October 18, 2012, during a tribute to victims of Colombia's armed conflict. The Patriotic Union, was a leftist Colombian political party founded by the leftist FARC guerrilla and the Colombian Communist Party in 1985, as part of the peace negotiations that the guerrillas held with the Conservative Belisario Betancur administration. Their leaders were systematically gunned down by right-wing death squads linked to the Colombian military. Colombia's government and leftist FARC rebels Thursday formally launched peace talks in Norway aimed at ending nearly five decades of a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

• Trinidad and Tobago: 35.2 per 100,000

  In this June 2, 2011 file photo, Jack Warner gestures during a news conference held shortly after his arrival at the airport in Port-of-Spain, in Trinidad and Tobago. Warner, currently the National Security Minister, has forbidden police to release crime reports and statistics, saying that such information encourages people to commit more crime. (AP Photo/Shirley Bahadur, File)

• St. Kitts and Nevis: 38.2 per 100,000

  This Sept. 23, 2011 file photo, shows an aerial view of the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. The Caribbean region is facing hard times as an escalating arms race among criminal gangs has turned once-peaceful neighborhoods into battle zones. Jamaica chalked up 1,428 killings in 2010 and St. Kitts and Nevis, a two-island federation of nearly 50,000 people, tallied 31 homicides by September 2011, making it the bloodiest year on record.

• Belize: 41.4 per 100,000

  Belize's elite team members participate in the 2011 Commando Forces competition in San Salvador, on June 21, 2011. Twenty five teams from countries in the hemisphere also participated to prepare elite forces to fight terrorism and organized crime in Latin America. AFP PHOTO/Jose CABEZAS (Photo credit should read Jose CABEZAS/AFP/Getty Images)

• Guatemala: 41.4 per 100,000

  In this picture taken Tuesday Feb. 7, 2012, neighbors gather to watch investigators work a crime scene where a man was shot to death in Guatemala City. President Otto Pérez Molina will meet on Monday with El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes to address issues related to regional security and how to coordinate their fight against organized crime. Perez has blamed the drug cartels for the high levels of violence in his country of 13 million overrun by gangs and the Mexican cartels, with a rate of 41 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, nearly three times that of neighboring Mexico.

• Venezuela: 45.1 per 100,00

  In this photo taken Friday, June 1, 2012, a municipal police officer checks the identification of two men while on night patrol in Caracas,Venezuela. The government says more than 14,000 people were killed in Venezuela last year, giving the country a murder rate of 50 per 100,000 people and making it one of the most violent countries in Latin America and the world. The murder rate has more than doubled since 1998, when Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez was first elected.

• Detroit: 51 per 100,000

  Livingston Prosecuting Attorney David Morse speaks to reporters following the arraignment for Ruelie Casteel, the suspect in multiple shootings on Interstate 96 last month in Howell, Mich., on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. Detroit has one of the highest murder rates in the United States, at 51 per 100,000, <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20111113/NEWS01/110131031/Living-murder-Interactive-map-breakdown-lives-lost-violence-Detroit-since-03">according to the Detroit Free Press</a>.

• Jamaica: 52.2 per 100,000

  Police patrol on May 24, 2010 in Kingston, Jamaica after two police officers were killed amid spreading unrest despite a state of emergency imposed by the government. Six police were wounded in the incident, the Jamaican police force's Constabulary Communications Network said. Jamaica's prime minister vowed tough action against a frenzy of gang violence in Kingston, imposing a state of emergency to curb armed supporters of an alleged druglord sought by the United States. AFP PHOTO/ANTHONY FOSTER (Photo credit should read Anthony FOSTER/AFP/Getty Images)

• El Salvador: 64.7 per 100,000

  In this July 22, 2012 photo, inmates belonging to the M-18 gang stand inside the prison in Quezaltepeque , El Salvador. Six months after El Salvador brokered an historic truce between two rival gangs to curb the nation's daunting homicide rate, officials are split over whether the truce is working. The gangs, which also operate in Guatemala and Honduras, are seeking truce talks in those countries as well.

• Honduras: 82.1 per 100,000

  A man in a neighborhood with heavy gang violence is searched by police on July 20, 2012 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Honduras now has the highest per capita murder rate in the world and its capital city, Tegucigalpa, is plagued by violence, poverty, homelessness and sexual assaults. With an estimated 80% of the cocaine entering the United States shipped through Honduras, the violence on the streets is a spillover from the rise in narco-trafficking.

Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto didn't come to Washington just to talk about drug war violence.

On his first official visit to the United States Tuesday, he tried to convince Americans that there's more to Mexico than the drug war launched by his predecessor, President Felipe Calderón. Instead, Peña Nieto points to Mexico's growing middle class and economic ties with the United States as agenda items. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, he writes:

To build a more prosperous future for our two countries, we must continue strengthening and expanding our deep economic, social and cultural ties. It is a mistake to limit our bilateral relationship to drugs and security concerns. Our mutual interests are too vast and complex to be restricted in this short-sighted way.

That's a tough sell for most Americans. A survey released by Vianovo consulting firm earlier this month found that 72 percent of Americans think Mexico is unsafe. Some 65 percent viewed the country as "dangerous and unstable."

But Peña Nieto has a point. While Calderón's frontal assault on Mexico's drug cartels has left some 60,000 dead, the country is not exactly the violent free-for-all that newspaper headlines imply. By regional standards, it's actually about average.

Mexico had a murder rate of 23.7 per 100,000 residents last year, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. That's roughly equal to the murder rate in Brazil and less than half as high as that of Detroit.

Several Caribbean island tourist havens suffer much higher homicide rates without alarming foreigners. Jamaica, with a murder rate more than double Mexico's, at 52.2 per 100,000 residents, hasn't been the recent subject of a State Department travel warning. In fact, tourism is booming there, growing almost 6 percent last year, according to the Jamaica Observer.

So, for the sake of comparison, check out these 13 places that are more violent than Mexico in the slideshow above.

• Because Most Americans Are Unenthusiastic About It

  Only 7 percent of Americans think the United States is <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/november_2012/7_think_u_s_is_winning_war_on_drugs">winning the war on drugs</a>, and few Americans are interested in throwing down more money to try to win, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll released this month.

• Because the U.S. Won't Control The Flow Of Guns Into Latin America

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/01/mexico-guns-arturo-sarukhan-us-weapons-mexico-violence-gun-rights_n_1563250.html">Mexican authorities seized almost 70,000 weapons of U.S. origin</a> from 2007 to 2011. In 2004, the U.S. Congress declined to renew a 10-year ban on the sale of assault weapons. They quickly became the guns of choice for Mexican drug cartels. Some 60,000 people have died in Mexico since President Felipe Calderón launched a military assault on the cartels in 2006.

• Because the United States Leads The Hemisphere In Drug Consumption

  Americans have the <a href="http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve/?File_id=81b53476-64a3-4088-9bae-254a84b95ddb">highest rate of illegal drug consumption in the world</a>, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

• Because The U.S. Ignores Latin American Calls For A Rethinking Of Drug Policy

  Several current and former Latin American presidents, like Fernando Henrique Cardoso, have <a href="http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/">urged the United States to rethink its failed war on drugs</a>, to no avail.

• Because Of The Fast And Furious Scandal

  In an attempt to track guns as they moved across the U.S.-Mexico border, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/atf-fast-furious-sg,0,3828090.storygallery">allowed smugglers to purchase weapons</a>. The ATF lost track of the guns and they wound up in the hands of drug cartels -- even as <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/09/11/atf-fast-and-furious-guns-appear-in-colombia/">far south as Colombia</a>.

• Because American Politicians Refuse To Candidly Lead A Debate On Reforming Our Laws

  Though the subject of marijuana legalization regularly ranks among the most popular at the digital town halls President Obama takes part in, he <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/06/askobama-twitter-town-hall-ignores-flood-of-marijuana-legalization-questions/">declines to address the issue</a> or give it a <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/03/obama-addresses.html">thoughtful answer</a>. Incidentally, a younger Obama <a href="http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/229756/82/We-Need-To-Decriminalize-Our-Marijuana-Laws----Barack-Obama">supported marijuana decriminalization and a rethinking of the drug war</a>.

• Because The U.S. Tortures Detainees In Cuba

  Almost 800 prisoners accused of terrorism have have been held at the <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/06/guantanamo-ten-years">U.S. military prison of Guantánamo</a>, Cuba, where they are detained indefinitely without facing trial. The United States has drawn international criticism from human rights defenders for subjecting the detainees there to torture and other cruel treatment. The Cuban government opposes hosting the U.S. naval base on its soil.

• Because The U.S. Has The World's Largest Prison Population

  The United States has <a href="http://www.prb.org/Articles/2012/us-incarceration.aspx">the world's largest prison population</a> by far -- largely fed by the war on drugs -- at 500 per 100,000 people.

• Because The U.S. Jails Undocumented Immigrants Guilty Of Civil Violations

  Because the United States <a href="http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/ExposeAndClose">imprisons roughly 400,000 immigrants</a> each year on civil violations.

• Because The Border Patrol Kills Kids Who Throw Rocks

  The U.S. Border Patrol has come under fire for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/26/border-patrol-killing-un_n_2018731.html">killing minors who were throwing rocks</a>.

• Because The U.S. Recognized An Illegal Government In Venezuela

  When opponents of leftwing Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez briefly ousted him in 2002, the United States not only failed to condemn the coup, it <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/16/world/bush-officials-met-with-venezuelans-who-ousted-leader.html">praised the coup leaders</a>.

• Because U.S. Extradition Undermines Justice In Colombia

  When Colombia demobilized the largest rightwing paramilitary organization in 2006, if offered lenient sentences to those who would offer details on the atrocities the AUC committed. But rather than facing justice in their home country, <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/colombian-paramilitaries-extradited-to-u.s.-where-cases-are-sealed">Colombia has extradited several paramilitary leaders to the United States</a> to face drug trafficking charges -- marking it harder for people like Bela Henríquez to find out the details surrounding the murders of their loved ones. "More than anger, I feel powerless," Henriquez, whose father, Julio, was kidnapped and killed on the orders of one defendant, told ProPublica. "We don't know what they are negotiating, what conditions they are living under. What guarantee of justice do we have?"

• Because The U.S. Helped Create Today's Cartels

  The U.S funded the Guatemalan military during the 1960s and 1970s anti-insurgency war, despite awareness of widespread human rights violations. Among the recipients of U.S military funding and training were the Kaibiles, a special force unit responsible for several massacres. Former <a href="http://ghrc-usa.org/Publications/factsheet_kaibiles.pdf" target="_hplink">Kaibiles have joined the ranks of the Zetas drug cartel</a>.

• Because The U.S. Backed An Argentine Military Dictatorship That Killed 30,000 People

  The rightwing military dictatorship that took over Argentina in 1976 "disappeared" some 30,000 people, according to estimates by several human rights organizations. They subjected countless others to sadistic forms of torture and stole dozens of babies from mothers they jailed and murdered. The military junta carried out the so-called "Dirty War" with the <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB104/index.htm">full knowledge and support of the Nixon administration</a>.

• Because The U.S. Helped Topple The Democratically Elected Government Of Salvador Allende

  When it became clear that socialist Salvador Allende would likely win the presidency in Chile, U.S. President Richard Nixon told the CIA to "make the economy scream" in order to "prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him," <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm">according to the National Security Archive</a>. Augusto Pinochet overthrew Allende in a bloody coup on Sept. 11, 1973, torturing and disappearing thousands of his political rivals with the backing of the U.S. government.

• Because the U.S. Backed A Military Coup In Brazil In 1964

  The Brazilian military overthrew the democratically elected government of João Goulart in 1964, with the <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB118/index.htm">enthusiastic support of President Lyndon Johnson</a>, ushering in two decades of repressive government.

• Because The U.S. Funded A Terrorist Group In Nicaragua

  The Reagan administration funded the Contra rebels against the Marxist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Regarded by many as terrorists, <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1985-03-08/news/mn-32283_1_contras">the Contras murdered, tortured and raped civilians</a>. When human rights organizations reported on the crimes, the Reagan administration accused them of working on behalf of the Sandinistas.

• Because The U.S. Helped Finance Atrocities In Colombia

  Through Plan Colombia, the U.S. has pumped over $6 billion into Colombia's military and intelligence service since 2002. The intelligence service has been disbanded for <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/us-aid-implicated-in-abuses-of-power-in-colombia/2011/06/21/gIQABrZpSJ_story.html">spying on the Supreme Court and carrying out smear campaigns</a> against the justices, as well as journalists, members of Congress and human rights activists. The military faces numerous allegations of human rights abuse, including the practice of killing non-combatants from poor neighborhoods and dressing them up as guerrillas to inflate enemy casualty statistics.

• Because The U.S. Maintains A Trade Embargo Against Cuba Despite Opposition From The Entire World

  For 21 years, the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-urges-end-u-cuba-embargo-21st-192516276.html">U.N. has condemned the U.S. embargo against Cuba</a> and for 21 years the United States has ignored it. Some 188 nations voted against the embargo this year, with only the U.S. itself, Israel, Palau opposing.

• Because The U.S. Engineered A Coup Against The Democratically Elected Government Of Guatemala In 1954

  At the behest of United Fruit Company, a U.S. corporation with extensive holdings in Central America, the CIA helped engineer the overthrow of the Guatemalan government in 1954, ushering in decades of civil war that resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.

• Because The U.S. Backed The Salvadoran Military As It Committed Atrocities In The 1980s

  El Salvador's military <a href="http://www.pbs.org/itvs/enemiesofwar/elsalvador2.html">committed atrocities throughout the 1980s with U.S. funding</a>.

• Because The U.S. Invaded Haiti and Occupied It For Almost 20 Years

  Woodrow Wilson ordered the Marines to <a href="http://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/Haiti">invade and occupy Haiti in 1915</a> after the assassination of the Haitian president. The troops didn't leave until 1934.

• Because The U.S. Invaded Haiti Again In 1994

  One invasion wasn't good enough. The U.S. <a href="http://wws.princeton.edu/research/cases/haiti.pdf">military returned in 1994</a>.

• Because The U.S. Trained Military Leaders Who Committed Atrocities In Latin America

  The School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia, trained soldiers and generals responsible for massacres and torture of tens of thousands of Latin Americans, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/09/201292081054585410.html">according to Al Jazeera</a>.

• Because The U.S. Backed Dictator Rafael Trujillo

  Rafael Trujillo Sr. (Photo by Hank Walker//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

• Because The U.S. Invaded Cuba And Undermined The Island's Independence

  The so-called "Spanish-American War" began in 1868 with the first of a series of three wars for Cuban independence. In 1898, the U.S. got involved, invading Cuba and occupying the island after forcing Spain to give it. The United States then forced Cuba to <a href="http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=55">accept the odious Platt Amendent to its Constitution</a>, which allowed the United States to intervene in the country militarily and established the U.S. military base at Guantánamo.

• Because The U.S. Colonized Puerto Rico

  As long as your invading Cuba, <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/puerto-rico-invaded">why not take Puerto Rico</a> as well? The United States invaded in 1898 and the island remains a U.S. territory today.