San Pedro Sula

San Pedro Sula "Usula (Valley of Birds)"
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): La Capital Industrial,Sap
San Pedro Sula
Coordinates: 15°30′0″N 88°2′0″W / 15.50000°N 88.03333°W / 15.50000; -88.03333Coordinates: 15°30′0″N 88°2′0″W / 15.50000°N 88.03333°W / 15.50000; -88.03333
Country	Honduras
Department	Cortés
Municipio (County)	San Pedro Sula
Foundation	27 June 1536 (1536-06-27)
Government
• Mayor	Armando Calidonio Alvarado (PNH)
Area
• Urban	840 km2 (320 sq mi)
Elevation	83 m (272 ft)
Population (2010)
• City	1,073,824 [1]
• Density	2,427.7/km2 (6,288/sq mi)
• Metro	1,445,598 [2]
Time zone	Central America (UTC−6)

San Pedro Sula (Spanish pronunciation: [sam ˈpeðɾo ˈsula]) is a city in Honduras. The city is located in the northwest corner of the country, in the Valle de Sula (Sula Valley), about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With an estimated population of one million in the main municipality, and 1,445,598 in its metro area (2010), it is the second largest city, after the capital Tegucigalpa. It is the capital of the Cortés Department.

Early years

San Pedro Sula Cathedral

San Pedro Sula was founded on 27 June 1536, by Pedro de Alvarado under the name Villa de San Pedro de Puerto Caballos, close to the town of Choloma. There were around 18 towns populated by indigenous people in the Sula valley at the time. Early descriptions of the landscape indicate abundant swampland and dense tropical forests, with little land good for agriculture or cattle raising. The city's name became San Pedro Sula in the 18th century, after several changes. The "Sula" part of its name comes from the Minas de Sula, gold mines located to the west of the village of Naco.

Panoramic view of Downtown San Pedro Sula

Municipal Palace

The city grew slowly from about 800 residents in 1590, to almost 10,000 by the 1890s, but most of this population growth took place in the 19th century. It benefited initially from the growth of bananas for export in the 1870s and 1880s and formed a close relationship with U.S. based shipper and railroad entrepreneur Samuel Zemurray's Cuyamel Fruit Company, and the construction of the Interoceanic Railroad between 1869 and 1874 which connected the city to the coast at Puerto Cortés. Zemurray worked closely with local elites who invested in subsidiary enterprises and thus shaped the way politically for Cuyamel to establish itself and, along the way to pay very few taxes.^[3]

Economy

In 2013, fifteen years after the effects of Hurricane Mitch, Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America; around San Pedro Sula, banana production has not fully recovered, and "manufacturing has all but dried up."^[4] The problems are exacerbated by organized crime, whose rules prevent residents from safely leaving gang-controlled neighborhoods such as Chamelecón for jobs in other parts of town.^[4]

In 2000, then-Mayor Roberto Larios Silva said "San Pedro Sula is where the economic development of the country is concentrated via the city’s industrial, commercial and financial development." The then-manager of Hotel Copantl attributed its growth in business-related tourism ...[to] the maquila (apparel manufacturing) industry.^[5]

As of 2011, San Pedro Sula generates two-thirds of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).^[6]

The city is home to the biggest airport in Honduras, Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport.

Crime

San Pedro Sula is the most violent place in the world. In 2013, the city had 187 homicides per 100,000 residents.^[7] This surpassed Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's rate of 148 killings per 100,000; Ciudad Juarez had previously topped the list for three consecutive years.^[8] Both cities are major operational and strategic distribution points in the illegal drug trade, particularly to the United States, and have significant gang activity.^[8][9][10] Meanwhile, arms trafficking has flooded the country with just under 70% illegal firearms; 83% of homicides in the city are by firearm compared.^[11]

The city's growing role as a hub for cocaine trafficking has led to a surge in homicides in recent years.^[12] For the second year in a row, San Pedro Sula had the highest murder rate in the world,^[13][14] surpassing Mexico's Ciudad Juárez. San Pedro Sula topped the list of violent cities a second time with a rate of 169 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, setting an average of more than three homicides a day.^[15] Authorities have launched Operation Lightning, saturating violence hotspots with police and soldiers.^[15]

In 2013, various sources labeled San Pedro Sula the "murder capital of the world".^{[4][9][11][15][16]}

According to the Los Angeles Times, "the homicide rate is stoked by the rivalry of the brutal street gangs, mostly descendants of gangs formed in Los Angeles and deported to Central America in the 1990s, including Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and the 18th Street gang. Their ranks are fed by the disastrous economy of Honduras, and emboldened more recently by alliances with Mexican drug traffickers moving cocaine through the country."^[4]

Crime and economic stress have led to the migration of large numbers of unaccompanied minors to the U.S. border. The latest data from the CBP shows San Pedro Sula as the major source for Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) migrating from Honduras. UAC Map.

Geography

Climate

San Pedro Sula features a tropical savanna climate (Koppen Aw), with year-round relatively high temperatures and plentiful rainfall year round. San Pedro Sula has experienced hurricanes and tropical storms and is prone to them during the hurricane season usually when the storms form in the southern part of the Caribbean or Western Africa.

Administrative divisions

San Pedro Sula's Old Train Station.

San Pedro Sula, as most cities built under the Spanish colonial period, is divided in quadrants. Avenues in the city run from North to South and Streets run from East to West. First Street and First Avenue mark the "center of the city" and effectively divide it into four major quadrants NW, NE, SW and SE.

Sports

San Pedro Sula is home to many sporting teams and events. In 1997 it became the first, and only to date, non-capital city to host the Central American Games. The games, though full of scandal, left the city with a modern sporting infrastructure. The Villa Olímpica is a multi-sporting complex that has facilities for most Olympic style games including soccer, boxing, swimming, baseball, cycling and multipurpose gymnasiums.

San Pedro Sula is the only city in the country to be home to two soccer stadiums. The Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano is located in the Villa Olímpica and is the largest in the country with a capacity of 42,000. The Estadio Francisco Morazán is located in the center of the city and holds 23,000 people. The stadiums are home to San Pedro Sula's most popular professional soccer teams Marathón and Real CD España. Because of the stadiums, training facilities, and an almost religious supporting fan base, San Pedro Sula has become the home for the Honduras national football team.^[19]

C.D. Marathón

Club Deportivo Marathón, as it is officially known, is more commonly known as just Marathón. It was founded on 25 November 1925 in San Pedro Sula by Eloy Montes and a group of his friends. The team's colors are red, white and green. It is the oldest team in the city. The team was a founding member of the Liga Nacional (Honduras's top soccer league). It plays its home games in the Estadio Yankel Rosenthal.

Real CD España

Real CD España was founded on 14 July 1929 at Escuela Ramón Rosa in San Pedro Sula. España's colors are black and yellow, a fact reflected in the club's nickname: "The Aurinegros" (a compound word meaning gold and black). It has won the national championship eleven times. It was also a founding member of the Liga Nacional. It plays its home games in Estadio Francisco Morazán.^[20]

Tourism

It has a cathedral that was built in 1949.^[21]

San Pedro Sula's municipal palace.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Pedro Sula.

• San Pedro Sula travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Interactive Map of San Pedro Sula
• Honduras Weekly
• Universidad de San Pedro Sula

Cortés Department Capital: San Pedro Sula Municipalities Choloma La Lima Omoa Pimienta Potrerillos Puerto Cortés San Antonio de Cortés San Francisco de Yojoa San Manuel San Pedro Sula Santa Cruz de Yojoa Villanueva