The Judicial Police confirmed that 2016 was the most violent year in Costa Rican history with 577 homicides and, due to the absence of some autopsies, that number could rise to 580.
The figure surpasses in approximately 20 murders 2015 results, when the judicial authorities closed with 557 homicides in the national territory.
According to the statistics provided by the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) during 2016, there were 244 homicides that were due to executions linked to organized crime, mainly related to drug trafficking.
Michael Soto, head of the Judicial Police’s Office of Plans and Operations (OPO), declared that despite the fact that there were no concentrated periods of assassinations as there were in the case of the drug war in 2015, the crimes continued as revenges.
Other data regarding the number of deaths during 2016 are the 110 crimes that were the result of gang fights or clashes in public roads or shops.
In addition, domestic violence, passionate and professional troubles, as well as acts of vengeance among non-criminal profile people accounted for more than 260 deaths.
With these numbers, the country breaks again the record and reaches a homicide rate of 11.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, the most violent rate in the history of the national territory.