Honduras, From Banana Republic to Narco State

Most Central American countries fought bloody, ideologically driven civil wars from the 1960s to 1990s, but Honduras escaped that fate -- mostly because of its weak and divided leftist movements. In fact, Honduras was so stable and so strategically located that U.S. military planners used it as an intelligence and operations base from which to counter the Soviet-backed guerrillas waging war in the rest of Central America. But now, as one of Central America's most violent nations, Honduras is a far cry from the bastion of stability it once was. Understanding how it fell so far requires a look at its geography and its history....