A flare-up of violence in the Mountain View Avenue area of Kingston has heightened the perception of a runaway murder rate in Jamaica, when it has actually remained almost unchanged. The current impression has been much influenced by an early August spike, when the body count in two days alone reached 14. In the first seven months of the year there were 547 murders, just 2% more than in the same period of last year.
Figures for January-July confirm the growing use of firearms in violent crime: guns were used in 69% of the murders -- followed by knives (16%) and machetes (7%). The most common motive for murder was reprisal, a feature in inter-community disputes such as the recent flare-up. It accounts for 27.2% of the total. Next in line are domestic disputes (22.3%). Gang-related conflicts, the focus of much police effort, come third, accounting for 13% of the total. These figures, of course, relate to known motives: the police have not yet figured out the reasons for 15% of cases.
PANAMA | Colombian arms route still active
A major stash of weapons found by the Panamanian police in mid-July proves that the gunrunning corridor to Colombia remains very active. The haul, discovered at a coastal farm in the central province of Coclé, included 144 AK-47 assault rifles, 10 PKM general-purpose machineguns and 'a large quantity of ammunition'. It was found by police following leads about a drug-trafficking operation. This suggests that it was a shipment awaiting the counterpart of drugs from Colombia. Almost exactly a year ago, also in Coclé, a more timely police operation led to the seizure of 139 assault rifles and 297 kilos of cocaine, 6 of heroin and 239 of marihuana.
The police will only officially say that the arms shipment came from 'a Central American country'. The assumption is that this means either Nicaragua or El Salvador.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Law against people-trafficking
The lower chamber of the Dominican congress has approved a bill establishing strong penalties for all forms of people-trafficking and for providing forged documents to aid that traffic. It establishes prison terms ranging from five to twenty years and fines from 150 to 250 minimum salaries. A minimum salary is currently equivalent to US$76 in the public sector and US$160 in the private sector. Passage of this legislation by the senate is taken for granted. It has been rushed through in record time after the Dominican Republic appeared among the countries blacklisted by the US State Department for not having taken adequate measures against people-trafficking. Other blacklisted countries in the region are Cuba, Belize, Haiti and Suriname.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Auto theft in upward spiral
Whichever gauge is used to measure it, auto theft is growing apace in the Dominican Republic. Insurance adjusters report 297 vehicles stolen in the first half of this year, as against 384 in the whole of 2002 - which produces a projected increase of 54% for this year as a whole. The police report 554 thefts in January-June, compared with 879 in all of 2002 (a projected rise of 26%). The insurers, who have paid out RD$400m over the past three years, say that 20% of stolen cars end up in Haiti; police say most are broken up for the black market in auto parts or used to commit other crimes. As in Argentina, auto theft is considered a core criminal activity, directly connected with other crimes (see page 3). Over the past year the police have recovered 1,343 stolen vehicles.
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