Q COSTA RICA – 74 homicides in the last 34 days, for an average of 2 murders per day, according to statistics from the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ).
The violence of the past month brings the total number of homicides to 380 (as of August 21), confirmed Michael Soto, head of the OIJ plans and operations.
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The figures for 2017 is 31 more deaths compared to the same date last year. In 2016 there were 578 homicides.
The 2017 numbers include the quintuple homicide in La Cruz de Guanacaste; the triple homicide last week, the case filed in Esparza, Puntarenas, where the three bodies were found on the edge of a river; and the triple homicide this past weekend in Cartago.
All three multiple homicides are believed to have ties to drug trafficking.
Now of the really bad news.
Authorities expect the number of homicides, including multiple murders, to continue to increase, given the increasing culture of violence in the country.
Soto explained that in general, the last quarter of the year is typically extremely violent, in particular with the younger population, between 15 and 30 years of age, an age group representing almost half (45%) of all (reported) homicides.
