San Jose, December 29 (Prensa Latina) Costa Rica’s homicide rate is 12.2 per 100,000 people, a new all-time record that has police authorities worried today over the surge in killings to pay bills.
Costa Rica reached that homicide rate this Wednesday, when official data from the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) recorded 638 homicides, also a new historic high for this Central American nation that until recently was considered one of the least violent in the region.
The previous highs are from 2017, when this parameter was 12.1 homicides per 100,000 population and a total of 604 homicides, but in a population of less than five million, today it is around 5.2 million.
The 638 cases reported up to this Wednesday all represent a violent event of this type at 1:47 p.m., so very close to the two daily ones.
Quoted on the morning news of Teletica, Channel 7, OIJ Assistant Director Michael Soto pointed out that between 56 and 60 percent of homicides in Costa Rica are related to paying bills.
These events, he specified, we could link to the issue of drug trafficking, mainly conflicts between groups over territorial struggles or between the groups themselves.
He pointed out that the coasts have the most worrying statistics.
In this regard, OIJ figures show that from January 1 to the previous day, Limón (Caribbean Coast) recorded 159 murders, followed by Puntarenas (Pacific Coast) with 109, Alajuela (108), Guanacaste (58) and Cartago (43). . . ).
The data for all of these provinces are higher than those recorded at the same stage last year.
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