Uruguay Reports More Than 30 Homicides in August

Uruguay's Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, assured on Tuesday that so far in August a total of 31 homicides have been reported in the country.

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During a press conference after a binational meeting between Uruguay and Brazil in the border department of Rivera, Heber indicated that there are not 42 or 43 deaths associated with violence, as reported by local media.

"Those killed by the police are not included, suicides are not included, and those that are doubtful deaths are not included, where there is no element to determine by the Forensic Institute that it was a murder," explained the minister.

Last July, Minister Heber announced that in the first half of 2022, 188 homicides were registered in Uruguay, representing a 39.5 percent increase compared to the same period in 2021, indicating an increase in deaths due to conflicts between criminal groups, drug trafficking, and settling of scores.

The minister, Luis A. Heber, participates in Rivera in the 1st Uruguay-Brazil Binational Meeting on public security.

On this issue, the Usina de Percepción Ciudadana de Uruguay (UPC) revealed that insecurity is the second most important problem in the country, and about half of the citizens do not see any changes since the approval of the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC) last March.

The study gathered information from a representative sample of 400 people over 18 years of age between August 26 and 29. It stated that during the Covid-19 pandemic, insecurity was relegated as a priority issue, but currently, the situation has been reversed.

The results show that the lower the socioeconomic level, the higher the perception of its increase; however, among respondents of low socioeconomic status, the value reaches 46 percent, in the middle class, 41 percent, and in the upper class, it is lower, with 28 percent.

Likewise, 42 percent of Uruguayans report feeling insecure while walking the streets, mainly in the low socioeconomic sector; and 51 percent of women are the ones who feel less safe, compared to 33 percent of men while walking the streets.

When asked if citizens observed changes in insecurity issues since the approval of the LUC, 48 percent answered no. In comparison, 31 percent perceive an increase in the occurrence of crimes, against 14 percent who consider them to have decreased.

The UPC data confirms that the response related to the LUC is conditioned by the political affiliation of the respondents, as 57 percent of those who consider that after its approval, crimes increased voted in favor of the Frente Amplio in the November 2019 elections; while 7 percent voted for the current government.