justice
Complaints of extortion continue to rise in the first month of the year
Scourge increased by 23 percent compared to December 2023, according to the most recent report from the Hundred.
Prosecutor’s Office against extortion of the Public Ministry. (Free Press Photo: Newspaper Library PL)
The extortions increased by 23 percent in January of this year compared to December 2023, according to the most recent report presented this Tuesday, February 27, by the National Economic Research Center (Cien), based on data from the Public Ministry (MP).
According to statistics, in December 2023, 1,543 complaints, compared to 2,027 in January of this year, which means that the interannual rate increased to 106.1 complaints per 100 thousand inhabitants.
Walter Menchú, researcher at Cien, says that for now the causes of this increase are unknown, but among the hypotheses being considered is that it could be due to the confidence of the population to report or because crime increased.
Cien statistics reflect that complaints of extortion have increased in the last two years. In January 2023, 1,273 complaints were registered.
“Since 2022 we saw that in no month did the number of complaints drop below a thousand, in 2023 the lowest figure was 1,273, the interannual rate went from 102 complaints per 100 thousand inhabitants to 106 complaints per 100 thousand inhabitants”Menchú recalled.
55 percent of extortions are committed in the department of Guatemala, according to Cien.
Planes
The Ministry of the Interior recently announced some strategies to combat extortion, including the Special Group Against Extortion (Gece) of the National Civil Police, which will investigate complaints and carry out operations; There is also the Multidisciplinary Penitentiary Access Control Team (Ecap) that It will ensure that illicit objects do not enter the prisons and it was agreed to carry out constant searches in the prisons to confiscate phones.
Menchú, note that there is little time to ask for results of these actions implemented by Minister Francisco Jiménez. He considers that the results of the Government’s strategies could be evaluated in several months.
“Results cannot be anticipated, for now, but in a few months It will be necessary to see if what is implemented by the Ministry of the Interior has positive results.”, Menchú noted.
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