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INSIDECOSTARICA.COM
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CENTRAL AMERICA
NEWS
| Saturday
30 October 2010 |
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Crime in
Guatemala
Still a
Dilemma
GUATEMALA
-
President
Alvaro
Colom
affirms
that
violent
deaths
in
Guatemala
have
decreased,
but
recent
autopsy
figures
point to
an
increase
in the
crime
rate.
Colom
and his
Interior
Minister
Carlos
Menocal
said
that
from
January
to
September
of this
year,
430 less
people
were
violently
murdered
than in
the same
period
in 2009.
Menocal
said the
figures
were
encouraging,
and that
data
from his
ministry
showed
an
average
of 16
crimes
reported
daily in
Guatemala,
contrasting
with 18
per day
in 2009
and the
20 per
day in
2006.
This was
the
result
of crime
prevention
policies,
operative
plans,
and
dismantling
of
gangs,
he said.
However,
neither
Colom
nor
Menocal
mentioned
a report
from the
National
Institute
of
Forensic
Sciences
asserting
an
increase
in
average
daily
crimes
in the
first
three
weeks of
October.
During
that
three-week
period,
302 men
and 36
women
were
killed
by
firearms
or other
weapons,
raising
the rate
from 14
to 17,
based on
the
number
of
autopsies
performed
by the
institute.
The
majority
of
violent
deaths,
not only
in
Guatemala
but in
other
Central
American
nations,
are
related
to drug
trafficking
activities,
Menocal
said.
Four of
every
ten
murders
reported
are
linked
to drug
trafficking,
and half
of them
are
executions
due to
settling
of
scores
or
business
among
drug
dealers,
Menocal
said.
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