Colombia’s effort to combat crime last year was a “hit,” the country’s defense minister told W Radio.
Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera claimed success based on government figures indicating that the country’s crime and murder rate were the lowest in 24 years.
“Given the performance of other years, 2010 is a year of which we should feel proud and not ashamed,” Rivera told W.
According to the national police, crime in Colombia went down 6% and murder 3.6% last year, despite a wave of violence in the north of the country blamed on neo-paramilitary drug gangs fighting over control of drug routes to the Caribbean.