Bogota’s homicide rate between 2010 and 2011 has dropped from 23.4 to 21.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, the capital city’s outgoing interim mayor says.
According to interim Mayor Clara Lopez, the murders can be attributed to the arrival of criminal organizations from elsewhere in the country “in search of protection.”
“The capital of the republic has become a backup center for all the criminal organizations in the country. They shelter themselves here and that is why the vast majority of people who die in acts of murder are not native to the city, but from other regions,” said Lopez.
Government Secretary Mariella Barragan explained that of all the homicides in Bogota, 33% of the killers had criminal records.
In the last four years, the Bogota Metropolitan Police have made 140,840 arrests with 2,338 corresponding to homicides.
