In 2017 Costa Rica closed the year with a record high 602 homicides. 2018 is shaping-up to be even more violent, adding 202 deaths through April 30 which represents 18 more than the number registered during the same period of 2017.

Just this past Saturday there were 14 violent deaths reported, including accidents, a beheading, and a triple homicide in Pococí.

With an average 50 homicides per month, Walter Espinoza, director of the Judicial Investigative Police commented that “the statistics reflect the level of violence with which problems are being ‘solved’” in the country“, “There is a situation of violence that has been growing for the past three years and that is evident in the society not just with drug trafficking but with a higher number of disputes”.

The number of femicides has also been on the rise.

An estimated 25 percent of murders in 2017 were linked to the drug trade, authorities said, and another half were described as “score settling”.

While Costa Rica’s homicide trend over recent years is undeniably on the uptick, the country does maintain one of the region’s lowest homicide rates, 12.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017.