Latin America, an X-ray of regional violence during 2022

The homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants continued to grow in Latin America during 2022, hand in hand with the expansion of drug trafficking and the return to pre-pandemic mobility scenarios, according to annual balances on the matter.

Latin America and the Caribbean recorded a significant increase in homicides during 2022, accompanied by an increase in the annual production of cocaine and the growth of arms and human trafficking.

According to the Balance of Homicides in 2022, published by InSight Crime, which, unlike other analyses focused on cities, is centered on countries, it is evident that Latin America continues to be the most violent region in the world in terms of regions without the presence of formal armed conflicts.

The first place in the ranking of countries with the highest violence in the subcontinent, measured according to its homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants, is Venezuela.

With around 40.4 homicides according to this index, the country has a population of approximately 28.2 million people, according to data from the Venezuelan Violence Observatory (OVV), which estimates its violent deaths at 9,367 in 2022, 3% less than in 2021.

In second place is Honduras, with 35.8 homicides, “placing it as the most violent country in Central America”, according to Honduran governmental data.

Despite the meager data, the Central American country reduced its homicide rate by 12.7% compared to the balance of the year 2021.

An example of this is the disappearance of Honduran cities from the lists of the most violent cities in the world, where Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula dominated the first places during most of the 21st century.

In third place in the ranking is Colombia, with a homicide rate of 26.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, whose overall average “remained stable” concerning 2021, placing the hotspots of violence in the departments controlled by drug trafficking based on the main routes of cocaine transfer to Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil, as well as to the port of Buenaventura (west).

The share of surprise in the ranking is evoked by Ecuador, ranking fourth on the list with a homicide rate of 25.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, constituting one of the “fastest-growing homicide rates in the region,” InSight Crime stipulates.

The South American country recorded 4,603 murders, representing 82% growth over 2021, in an escalation of violence associated with gang and drug trafficking activity, especially exacerbated in the port city of Guayaquil, along with continued records of intra-prison violence.

Fifth on the list is Mexico, with a homicide rate of 25.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, with a total figure of 31,915 murders in 2022.

Mexico maintains nine of the top 10 most violent cities in the world, according to data provided by the Mexican organization Security, Peace, and Justice, among which stand out: Colima, Zamora, Ciudad Obregón, Zacatecas, Tijuana, Celaya, Juárez, Uruapan and Acapulco, with only one non-Mexican city on the list, the US city of New Orleans, in the eighth of the top 10 positions in the ranking.

The counterpart is El Salvador, with 7.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, after the beginning of the constitutional exception regime ordered by President Nayib Bukele to fight organized crime in his country.

The exceptional measures have been in place in Central America’s smallest country since March 26, 2021, when the record number of homicides in one day was broken, with 62 violent deaths, the highest figure since 2015. Authorities have incarcerated around 60,000 people.

It is worth considering the renovation of the penitentiary infrastructure with the construction of the new Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), recently criticized by Colombian President Gustavo Petro after calling it a “concentration camp”.

It should be noted that Argentina, which usually publishes its statistics in April, Peru, which has yet to publish its official homicide figures for 2022, and Bolivia, which has not had official crime statistics for three years, a situation similar to that of Haiti, according to InSight Crime, were not counted due to a lack of information.

BALANCE OF HOMICIDES DURING 2022 IN LATIN AMERICA (PER 100,000 INHABITANTS)

1. Venezuela 40.4 (pop. 28,199,867).
2. Honduras 35.8 (pop. 10,278,345).
3. Colombia 26.1 (pop. 51,516,562).
4. Ecuador 25.9 (pop. 17,797,737).
5. Mexico 25.2 (pop. 126,705,138).
6. Brazil 18.8 (pop. 214,326,223).
7. Puerto Rico 17.4 (pop. 3,263,584).
8. Guatemala 17.3 (pop. 17,109,746).
9. Costa Rica 12.2 (pop. 5,153,957).
10. Dominican Republic 11.9 (pop. 11,117,873).
11. Panama 11.5 (pop. 4,351,267).
12. Uruguay 11.2 (pop. 3,426,260).
13. El Salvador 7.8 (pop. 6,314,167).
14. Paraguay 7.6 (pop. 6,703,799).
15. Nicaragua 6.7 (pop. 6,850,540).
16. Chile 4.6 (pop. 19,493,184).

MOST SIGNIFICANT VARIATIONS IN THE ANNUAL HOMICIDE RATE

Increase

1. Ecuador +82%.
2. Chile +32.2%.
3. Uruguay +25%.

Decrease

1. El Salvador -56.8%.
2. Honduras -12.7%.
3. Panama -8.9%.
4. Puerto Rico -8%.

With information from Sputnik