Violence in Brazil is Significantly Reduced

By Xiu Ying, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Violence in Brazil reduced significantly. The number of killings fell 24 percent to 10,324 in the first quarter, according to violence monitoring published on Monday, which the Globo media group regularly compiles with the University of São Paulo and the Public Safety Forum.

Responsible for the decline were closer cooperation between the various state security forces, government anti-violence programs, and reduced tensions between the powerful crime syndicates in the country.

However, Brazil continues to be one of the most violent countries in the world. Last year in the largest country in Latin America, 51,589 people were killed. For comparison, in Germany last year 699 people were victims of homicidal offense.

With their severe actions, the security forces in Brazil are responsible for many deaths themselves.

Last year, 6,160 people were killed by the police, 18 percent more than in the previous year. Observers fear that this number could increase even further.

The right-wing populist President Jair Bolsonaro continues to call for crackdowns by police and military against criminal gangs.