GOVERNMENT ADVISES AGAINST TRAVEL TO HONDURAS

Canadian Press

The Foreign Affairs Department is

advising Canadians to avoid all travel

to certain parts of Honduras because

of high rates of violence and crime.

Areas in the departments of Valle,

Choluteca and Olancho are included in the advisory.

“The security situation has seriously deteriorated in Honduras,”

which has the highest homicide rate in Central America, the

department says.

Communities to avoid are San Francisco de Coray,

Langue, Orocuina, Apacilagua, Morolica, San Francisco de la

Paz and Gualaco.

Elsewhere in the country visitors should exercise “a high degree

of caution.”

Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were identified in 2010

as major transit countries for smuggling drugs, the

International Narcotics Control Board - the UN's drugs

watchdog - said in a report released Wednesday.