The chiefs of police in Sao Paulo were replaced on Monday as Brazil's largest city emerged from a bloody weekend and authorities struggled to contain a wave of violence that has doubled the murder rate in recent months.
A Brazilian magistrate described the wave of killings in Sao Paulo city as a ‘civil war’ between organized crime and unsupported police forces to which the local population is closing its eyes.
Six of the 14 most violent countries in the world are in Latin America revealed the second edition of the report “Armed Violence and Development” published Thursday in Geneva by the Secretariat from the Geneva Declaration on Violence and Development, a diplomatic initiative born in 2008.
“Economic interests” and a “culture of violence” are to blame for rate crimes in Brazil and conspire against government plans to disarm the population and improve security, claimed Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, has released its first “Global Study on Homicide”, which shows that young men, particularly in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Central and Southern Africa, are at greatest risk of falling victim to intentional homicide.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning Friday and demanded a crackdown on drugs in the United States after armed men torched a casino in northern Mexico, killing at least 65 people.
Venezuelan lawmakers exchanged punches in parliament on Thursday when a fight erupted between members of President Hugo Chavez's socialist party and rivals, in a sign of the country’s political polarization.
A judge in Venezuela has ruled that all printed news media cannot publish “violent, bloody or grotesque” photographs for the next 30 days because the pictures can cause psychological and moral harm to children.
The Catholic Church again expressed “concern” about the increase in crime and insecurity during the opening of the 156th Episcopate Permanent Committee Summit presided by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.