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Crime On The
Increase In Costa Rica, San José The Leader
in Homicides
Crime in Costa Rica is on the increase,
especially in homicides, which has gone from
an average, in the whole country, of one
murder daily to 1.5, and San José leading
the way with 57 homicides so far this year.
The numbers were provided by Paula Guido,
head of the homicides division of the
Ministerio Público, who confirmed that the
number of homicides is on the increase.
Guido said that for the same period in 2008,
there were 56 families grieving a loved one.
However, contrary to what one would believe,
the largest number of homicides have
occurred in the peripheral areas of San José
and not the downtown core, where crime is
supposedly the worst.
The Tercer Circuito Judicial de San José
registers the largest number of homicide
cases. The Terce Circuito serves the
populations of Desamparados and Pavas.
One of the worst areas for homicides is the
community known as La Carpio, west of San
José, which is currently controlled by a
number of rival gangs, whose members under
the code of silence, making it very
difficult to prosecute, according to Guido.
The fiscal explained that the motives for
the homicides has also changed. Six months
ago, most the homicides were families of
victims of assaults taking revenge. However,
today, the motivation behind most homicides
are feuds and personal problems.
Randall Picado, subdirector de la Fuerza
Pública, confirms that the code of silence
frustrates investigations and as such have
begun a program of getting out as many
illegal weapons out of the conflict areas as
possible.
The head of the Organismo de Investigacion
Judicial (OIJ), Jorge Rojas, said that 10%
of the homicides this so far this year have
been a settling of scores, whcih is a direct
action of organized crime.
Rojas said that although San José is
violent, the rest of the country does not
escape the effects of rising crime.
The OIJ director blames the lack of
sufficient patrols and police officials to
avoid the crimes, as criminals know this and
the failure of the penal system, which gives
them (the criminals), license to commit
their acts.
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