The National Police Director Monday announced that 75% of homicides committed in Colombia are the result of widespread ‘social violence’, not organized crime.
The Director, General Oscar Naranjo, explained on Tuesday that three quarters of all homicides committed in the country were a result of issues involving alcohol consumption, fights and revenge attacks – all included under the heading of “social violence”.
According to the general, as reported by news station Caracol, despite the fact 2009 has not seen a reduction in the number of homicides compared to 2008, this year (with 15,700 homicides registered) counts as the lowest murder rate Colombia has seen in the last 23 years.
Naranjo maintained that every day the authorities are making progress on the issue of homicide, highlighting the fact that in the case of Bogota “the homicide rate has remained stable at 18 to 19 per 100,000 inhabitants for the second year running.”
“Since March 2006, police have captured … about 7,000 members of criminal gangs, and only 12% are repeat offenders who used to be paramilitaries; most are not former paramilitaries,” said Naranjo.