There were 41 murders that occurred during the month of May, more than double compared to the same period of time in 2021
This weekend there were eight homicides in Uruguay and a total of 41 murders occurred during the month of May.
After two years (2018 and 2019) of very high homicide figures, in the last two years Uruguay experienced a decrease in these values. The government attributed it to the new security policy and -after it was approved- to the Urgent Consideration Law (LUC), which proposed major changes in security matters.
No However, the reality in the country so far this year is different and shows a significant increase in homicides, especially so far in May: there were 41 cases, more than double compared to the same time period during 2021.
Although the seriousness of the situation was already public knowledge -the Ministry of the Interior reported in April that during January, February and March there was a 33% increase in the number of homicides-, last weekend week made it clear that the country is facing a very delicate situation: there were eight homicides in approximately 48 hours.
The first case occurred on Saturday: a man was riding a bicycle near the Antel Arena (Montevideo) when he was shot. Although police officers were in the area and transferred him to a health center, the man did not survive.
That same day, in the department of Canelones, witnesses testified that a man got out of a car and shot another at least five times. Three of those shots hit him and took his life, according to La Diaria.
The third case was on Saturday night, when a man was shot to death at the door of a club in the Peñarol neighborhood. In that same area, a merchant was robbed on Sunday morning. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the man would have resisted, which is why the criminal opened fire and killed him, in addition to injuring his wife. There were seven homicides in Peñarol during the month of May.
On Sunday night, a man murdered his partner, then his son and, finally, he took his own life by jumping off a bridge in the department of Artigas.
Finally, and also on Sunday night, there was a shooting in Piedras Blancas (Montevideo) in which two men died and two more were injured, according to Underlined. 18 pods were found in the area.
“Unfortunately we cannot foresee these homicides that sometimes happen on any street corner”, stated in an interview with Underlined the Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, referring to what happened over the weekend.
Regarding the murder of the storekeeper in Peñarol, the official said that “it happened a few blocks from the mobile (police), but we couldn’t foresee that situation, nor was there a situation to prevent it from being robbed, plundering that warehouse and costing that worker’s life, which we greatly regret.”
According to Heber, “these are situations that are taking place in the Prosecutor’s Office investigation but that have to do with drug bill collection situations, there are two of them, at least; we are not very clear about Canelones either.”
The homicide rate in Uruguay per 100,000 inhabitants was 8.5 during 2021, according to the continental report of the InSight Crime Foundation. This figure places the country above others such as Paraguay and Nicaragua. Regarding Argentina, there is no data, although there is for the year 2020, when the rate was 4.6, according to the report.