There have been 193 more murders from January to September than over the same period last year. Already there are 735 homicides, nearly 200 more than all of 2007, reported El Colombiano.
Government secretary, Maria Jesus Ramirez, blamed two main factors in explaining the rise in city murders.
First, criminal groups are regrouping in the region that includes the departments of Urabá, Córdoba and Chocó. Second, around 60 percent of the homicide victims were linked to criminal groups or had former ties.
He dismissed suggestions that there is a femicide campaign in the city, as the rate of murdered women is at 8.2 percent this year compared to 8.3 percent in 2007.
The majority of deaths are due to criminal gangs battling for control of drug trafficking routes, as well as conflict concerning laboratories and illegal cultivation.
He denied that the deaths have a direct relations with the May extradition of 14 top paramilitary leaders to the U.S., arguing that the rise in crime started last September.
“We find absolutely no relation between the extradition of paramilitary chiefs and the rise of homicides in the city,” he said.
As part of the program, inter-institutional brigades will be formed focusing in homicide, houses of vice, smuggling, forced disappearances, and sexual abuse of minors, children and elderly.
The will also launch education campaign to encourage coexistence and reconciliation.