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Colombia on Track for Least Violent Year in 3 Decades

InSight Crime (Bogota)

8 January 2015

By Elyssa Pachico

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While the official number of homicides hasn't yet been released by authorities, the statistics available thus far indicate that conflict-ridden Colombia may have just registered its most peaceful year in decades. However, the data doesn't tell the whole story.

According to police statistics accessed by El Tiempo, between January and December 1, 2014, Colombia saw over 11,600 murders. Added to more recent police figures showing 1,155 murders in the month of December, this means that Colombia finished 2014 with 12,776 homicides, El Tiempo reported…

That year [1984] saw just under 10,000 homicides. By 1991, Colombia's homicide rate had climbed to a high of 78 murders for every 100,000 people -- a total of 28,280 dead… In 2002, the year President Alvaro Uribe took office, Colombia suffered from a homicide rate of 67 per 100,000.

Colombia's police still haven't released their official murder tally for 2014, and their count traditionally differs slightly from other Colombian agencies such as the forensic science institute, Medicina Legal, as the police do not count those who are wounded and later die as a result of their injuries.

Nevertheless, the overall trend is one of declining violence…

ID: N445

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