Guatemala's year-on-year homicide rate is set at 16 per 100,000 inhabitants so far in 2021. | Photo: EFE

Guatemala City, October 25 (RHC)-- The Center for National Economic Research (CIEN), together with the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (Fundesa), has warned about the increase of homicides in the country so far this year.

According to data from the Crime Reporting Index (IDD), between January and August 2021, 1,808 homicides were reported in the Central American nation, compared to the 1,676 perpetrated in the same period of 2020, which 133 more violent deaths and an increase of 8 percent.

Researcher Walter Menchú pointed out that last September there were 245 murders, higher than the 237 in August and 215 in July.  He also warned that this growing trend could continue for the rest of the year, adding that 2,053 homicides have occurred from January to date, an increase of 9 percent.

He noted that, to date, the inter-annual rate of deaths in Guatemala per 100,000 inhabitants stands at 16, above the 15.2 registered in the same period of 2020.

Menchú indicated that the departments of Guatemala (786), Escuintla (228), Izabal (120), Santa Rosa (89) and Quetzaltenango (85), have the highest indicators of violence; therefore, she urged the authorities to implement measures in the capital municipalities of Mixco and Villa Nueva, which present the most alarming statistics.

In the same period there was an increase in other crimes such as extortion and car theft.  "In the short term, the high numbers of this type of aggressions in particular, especially in the last three months," Menchú remarked, referring to the 1,157 reports made in September, which reached an average of more than 1,000 per month.

According to the investigator, the inter-annual rate associated with this type of crime is set at 79.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, higher than that recorded in January which was 74, data that have as their starting point the statistics of the National Civil Police (PNC).