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Personal security in Honduras requires a high degree of caution. Throughout Honduras, street crime is the principal concern, with thefts in urban and coastal recreational areas, which include purse snatching, pick-pocketing and armed robberies. Displaying jewelry or large amounts of money increases the risk of robbery. Armed highway robberies and car-jackings have been a particular problem, and there have also been incidents of home and yacht burglaries, and even murders. Tourists have been targeted by criminals in areas of San Pedro Sula, Tela, Trujillo and Tegucigalpa. U.S. citizens should exercise particular caution in and around sparsely-inhabited coastal areas, and they should avoid walking on isolated beaches, especially at night. In 1997, a number of U.S. citizens and others were assaulted, raped and/or robbed by armed criminals on beaches in and around the popular north coast resort towns of Tela and Trujillo. A pattern has also emerged of armeded hold-ups of U.S. citizens and other travelers, occurring after the victims arrive at San Pedro Sula Airport and continue overland by road to other destinations in northern Honduras. These highway robberies, which take place mostly on the main coast road passing through El Progreso-Tela-La Ceiba, are believed to be the work of several organized bands of armed robbers preying on luggage-laden travelers arriving on international flights at San Pedro Sula Airport. The bandits are believed to use airport spotters and cellular phones or radios to coordinate the assaults. Although not a primary tourist destination, the Department of Olancho has a reputation for being one of the most violent areas in Honduras. Armed assaults of buses and private cars, sometimes involving rapes and killings, have been on the upswing on the stretch of unpaved road between Limones and La Union, Olancho. U. S. Government Publication (excerpted by permission) Lorenzo Dee Belveal, Author
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