BUT THEY’RE HUMANS –
June 20, 2024 – “Alcoholism is a nasty disease that has a firm grip on this region,” says Rómulo. “In this small city centre there are at least 400 addicted people who wake up on the streets from their weekend bender – but some will never wake up. “By bringing them here, we are attempting to save their lives, but they die like flies in the streets.” Intibucá, in the south-west of Honduras, has a primarily rural population, and relies on its agricultural economy.
However, a 2017 study by the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) found that the state registered 27.9 alcohol-related deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants.
This suggests that Intibucá has the highest alcohol-related death toll in Honduras, more than double that of the country’s capital, Tegucigalpa (12.7), and almost three times the national average (9.8).
If Intibucá were a country, it would have the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the world, surpassing Belarus (21.4) and nearly doubling that of second-placed Mongolia (15.8).
