MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Crime & violence on the rise

Crime in Argentina ? which once boasted one of the highest security standards in Latin America ? rose 53 percent over the decade up to 2005 and by 121 percent from 1985. And one of the main features of that increase is a higher degree of violence, an expert said yesterday.

"Today it is more frequent to have people killed during hold-ups," Eduardo Ovalles, of the Nueva Mayoría think tank, told the Herald.

More than 40 elderly people were killed last year, mostly during robberies and at the peak of the economic crisis that erupted in late 2001 when 50 police officers were killed in a year. Last year, about 1.21 million crimes were committed, an average of 3,100 per 100,000 residents for a population of nearly 39 million, according to a report drawn by Ovalles.

In 1995 there were 710,000 crimes, or 2,000 per 100,000 residents when the population was estimated at 35 million. The figure meant a 44-percent increase from 1985. In 1985 ? just two years after the country recovered democracy following a bloody seven-year military dictatorship ? nearly 430,000 crimes were committed, an average of 1,400 per 100,000 residents when the population stood at 30 million.

Ovalles said that only about 28 percent of crimes are actually reported. The remainder goes unreported either by the victims themselves or is unregistered by state agencies.

Crime rose steeply amid the 2001-02 crisis ? the worst in the country's history ? although it has now been declining. Some types of crime that were almost non-existent in the past in Argentina ? such as kidnapping for ransom ? skyrocketed to an average of about 400 in 2002, although they have since fallen markedly.

Reports published last month in some local media said that last year, crime fell three percent nationwide but rose by 3.8 percent in Buenos Aires City. The report was attributed to the federal police but Interior Minister Aníbal Fernández later said that it was "a fake."

Security sources told the Herald that by that he meant that the figures did not originate in the federal police. They added that contributing to increased crime is what they described as a "loose enforcement of laws to jail criminals."

One source said, "The federal police makes some 30,000 detentions per year but many of those arrested are freed by judges. It is like throwing the garbage into a broken bag." Since the economy has recovered by about 30 percent over the last three years, security is now the main concern among Argentines.

After failing to mention the issue of security during first seven months of the year, President Néstor Kirchner this month launched a plan to curb the use of firearms in a country where according to some reports 10 people a day are killed through the use of guns. But experts expressed doubts as to whether the plan will succeed. Kirchner has not said whether he will seek re-election next year but most observers take that for granted.

In the case of homicides, figures are more accurate than for other crimes, as homicides are clearly more likely to be reported or discovered, Ovalles said, adding that according to official figures, six murders are committed per 100,000 residents per year, or about 6.4 per day.

The World Health Organization considers more than 10 murders per 100,000 as an epidemic, he said, adding that Latin America's average was nearly 30 per 100,000 residents.

Asked for comparable figures for countries such as Brazil and Mexico, the expert said that such comparisons could be misleading as each country has its own characteristics and that proper comparisons are those which refer to the same country. However, he added that Argentina is still far from the crime levels of Brazil, Mexico or Colombia, for example.

By Guillermo Háskel Buenos Aires Herald