Hear
MONTEVIDEO.- The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pousaid this Wednesday his “enormous concern” about homicides in the country, days after a quadruple murder, including that of an 11-year-old boy, which shook the political debate on the issue in this election year.
“What I have never done and will not do in the remainder of my government is make excuses. There is enormous concern about homicides. They never heard this government say that it was a settling of accounts. They are homicides. There are lives that are lost. And in this case, furthermore, the life of a child“said the president, who will end his five-year term in March.
Thursday night Four people were riddled with bullets in a house in the Maracaná neighborhood of Montevideowhere authorities suspect drugs were sold. Among those murdered were a 40-year-old man, an 18-year-old teenager, another 16-year-old, and an 11-year-old boy..
In a press conference on Wednesday, Lacalle Pou highlighted that the police have “important elements” to solve this crimewhich, as he said, “It is not an isolated incident”but it responds to a conflict between some people for a long time.
The president questioned whether the death of a child is used as “campaign speech”but acknowledged that the country faces a problem with violent deaths, even though During his government, thefts, robberies and livestock thefts decreased “significantly”.
“It is the first time in many years that crimes have decreased. And it’s not that they’re going down this year, they’ve been going down […] I am ok? No, I am not satisfied. But the truth must be told, crimes have gone down. We can’t handle the homicides.“, he claimed.
“The record was in 2018 and now it has remained stable for a long time, and that is not good,” said Lacalle Pou, who took office in 2020 after 15 years of left-wing governments.
Uruguay, with 3.4 million inhabitants, recorded 382 homicides in 2023, a rate of 11.2 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitantspractically the same as in 2022, when homicides increased almost 26% compared to 2021. In 2018, meanwhile, the figure was 420 homicides.
Uruguay, where there is no immediate presidential re-election, will hold presidential and legislative elections next October.
AFP Agency
THE NATION
