Latin America holds the undesirable distinction of having the most cities on the Mexico Citizens Council for Public Security's annual ranking of the world's most violent cities.

Of the 50 cities on the list, 41 are in Latin America, including 21 in Brazil.

The lion's share of the elevated violence in the region is due to drug trafficking supplemented with gang wars, political instability, and the deregulation of economies triggering widespread poverty.

“Narcotics are the biggest black market earner of all. Estimated to be worth more than three hundred billion dollars a year, the global industry has pumped huge resources into criminal empires decade after decade,” wrote Ioan Grillo the author of “Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America.”

"So that amount of money, $100 billion a year, 10 years, a trillion dollars, 30 years, $3 trillion. That amount of money pumps in these organizations... buying more guns, paying more assassins, bribing more police, bribing more politicians ... and that is why the region right now, Latin American and the Caribbean, are at a boiling point," Grillo told Business Insider.

The council's ranking contains cities with populations of more than 300,000 and does not count deaths in combat zones or cities with unavailable data, so some dangerous cities may not be represented on the list:

50. Obregón, Mexico, had 28.29 homicides per 100,000 residents.

49. Maracaibo, Venezuela, had 28.85 homicides per 100,000 residents.

48. Macapá, Brazil, had 30.25 homicides per 100,000 residents.

47. Johannesburg, South Africa, had 30.31 homicides per 100,000 residents.

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46. Victoria, Mexico, had 30.50 homicides per 100,000 residents.

45. Pereira, Colombia, had 32.58 homicides per 100,000 residents.

44. Curitiba, Brazil, had 34.71 homicides per 100,000 residents.

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43. Porto Alegre, Brazil, had 34.73homicides per 100,000 residents.

42. Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, had 35.85 homicides per 100,000 residents.

41. Durban, South Africa, had 35.93 homicides per 100,000 residents.

40. Campina Grande, Brazil, had 36.04 homicides per 100,000 residents.

39. Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil, had 36.16 homicides per 100,000 residents.

38. Aracaju, Brazil, had 37.7 homicides per 100,000 residents.

37. Recife, Brazil, had 38.12 homicides per 100,000 residents.

36. Vitória da Conquista, Brazil, had 38.46 homicides per 100,000 residents.

35. Tijuana, Mexico, had 39.09 homicides per 100,000 residents.

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34. Gran Barcelona, Venezuela, had 40.08 homicides per 100,000 residents.

33. Kingston, Jamaica, had 41.14 homicides per 100,000 residents.

32. New Orleans had 41.44 homicides per 100,000 residents.

31. Vitoria, Brazil, had 41.99 homicides per 100,000 residents.

30. Teresina, Brazil, had 42.64 homicides per 100,000 residents.

29. Goiânia y Aparecida de Goiânia, Brazil, has 43.38 homicides per 100,000 residents.

28. Detroit had 43.89 homicides per 100,000 residents.

27. Feira de Santana, Brazil, had 45.5 homicides per 100,000 residents.

26. Belém, Brazil, had 45.83 homicides per 100,000 residents.

25. Guatemala City, Guatemala, had 47.17 homicides per 100,000 residents.

24. Cumaná, Venezuela, had 47.77 homicides per 100,000 residents.

23. Manaus, Brazil, had 47.87 homicides per 100,000 residents.

22. Cuiabá, Brazil, had 48.52 homicides per 100,000 residents.

21. São Luís, Brazil, had 53.05 homicides per 100,000 residents.

20. Barquisimeto, Venezuela, had 54.96 homicides per 100,000 residents.

19. Baltimore had 54.98 homicides per 100,000 residents.

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18. Maceio, Brazil, had 55.63 homicides per 100,000 residents.

17. Culiacan, Mexico, had 56.09 homicides per 100,000 residents.

16. João Pessoa, Brazil, had 58.40 homicides per 100,000 residents.

15. St. Louis had 59.23 homicides per 100,000 residents.

14. Salvador, Brazil, had 60.63 homicides per 100,000 residents.

13. Natal, Brazil, had 60.66 homicides per 100,000 residents.

12. Fortaleza, Brazil, had 60.77 homicides per 100,000 residents.

11. Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, had 62.33 homicides per 100,000 residents.

10. Cali, Colombia, had 64.27 homicides per 100,000 residents.

9. Cape Town, South Africa, had 65.53 homicides per 100,000 residents.

8. Palmira, Colombia, had 70.88 homicides per 100,000 residents.

7. Valencia, Venezuela, had 72.31 homicides per 100,000 residents.

6. Distrito Central, Honduras, had 73.51 homicides per 100,000 residents.

5. Maturin, Venezuela, had 86.45 homicides per 100,000 residents.

4. Acapulco, Mexico, had 104.73 homicides per 100,000 residents.

3. San Salvador, El Salvador, had 108.54 homicides per 100,000 residents.

2. San Pedro Sula, Honduras, had 111.03 homicides per 100,000 residents.

1. Caracas, Venezuela, had 119.87 homicides per 100,000 residents.

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