Protesters demand change in the world's most murderous nation (INFOGRAPHIC)

GlobalPost

In Honduras, irate demonstrators have taken to the streets each weekend for the past several months, raising their fists against rampant corruption.

The protests were sparked by colossal bribery and graft schemes uncovered in May, in which individuals allegedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars from the national social security system. Now, thousands of Hondurans are demanding an end to impunity for these officials.

Impunity in the Central American country isn’t only an issue with government fraud.

The US State Department reports that the vast majority of serious crimes in Honduras are never solved. Many murder cases from the past 14 years still await trial.

Worse yet, Honduras has the world's highest homicide rate: a shocking 90.4 murders per 100,000 people, according to a UN report.

How bad is that? We made this infographic to put the figure in context:

Despite this sky-high murder rate, protesters reportedly feel safe chanting their dissatisfaction in the streets.

Ironically, part of the protests' appeal is that they have become a social space in which groups of friends and even parents with children feel comfortable participating, despite the country's chart-topping crime and murder rates, said Kurt Ver Beek, vice president of the Association for a More Just Society, the Honduran chapter of anti-corruption research group Transparency International.

Demonstration leaders see an opportunity to bring justice to Honduran institutions across the board.

“This is a really historic time in Central America,” a Guatemala-based analyst for the non-profit International Crisis Group, Arturo Matute, told the International Business Times. “The question is whether this will really turn into a critical juncture in which society, civil organizations, the private sector and political parties can really come together in making the best out of this opportunity that’s being presented to us to begin really cleaning up our state institutions.”

The US government is watching these protests closely as it considers a $675 million fund for Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, intended to boost local economies and diminish corruption and crime in an effort to stem migration from these nations to the US.

American legislators have recommended that $2 million of these funds directly support a commission against impunity in Honduras, if one is created.

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