It's true. The Yucatan peninsula is quite safe and also gorgeous. I only lost $250 when the police robbed me [non violently] the last time I was there.
I only spent two hours driving through Honduras years ago (the part between El Salvador and Nicaragua is very skinny) but the police tried that three times. They got it right at the border, but the other times we got away with just acting dumb for an hour until they got tired of us (easy to do since we spoke no Spanish.) I'd never go back there, life is finite and there are less dangerous, nicer countries to visit.
Not sure that's true, I haven't read about it (live in AUS). A lot of the campaigns by the opposition in the upcoming state elections are heavily focused on being "tough on crime".
