Public security in general and homicides in particular were once again at the center of the political and media debate due to the increase in homicides registered in the month of August. And this led to crosses being generated between the ruling party and the opposition about the numbers that were registered in the last 30 days.
The Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber, complained this Tuesday about the count of homicides made by the Broad Front, and assured that they actually occurred in August 31 violent deaths and 42 as the opposition says. However, a survey carried out by The Observer counted 32 homicides up to the moment the minister spoke. Then another 3 were added to reach 35 in August.
They are left out of this count made by The Observer nine deaths classified as doubtful and two cases in which criminals were killed by the police.
Heber said Tuesday that 31 homicides “its alot” and that the government is “concerned” about this situation. President Luis Lacalle Pou expressed himself on a similar line on August 25, where he also denied that the government consider a security “change of plans”.
It is not possible to analyze the official monthly data because, beyond what Heber said, the Ministry of the Interior does not publish the figures month by month but rather by quarters. The Broad Front, meanwhile, conducts a press survey, to which it agreed The Observer.
Now, what motivates the distance between the 32 deaths counted by The Observer, at 41 of the Broad Front? The FA included in its list of homicides the murder of a young man in the town of 18 de Mayo (Canelones), but that crime actually happened on Sunday, July 31. He also added the investigation into the death of a 96-year-old man in Rocha who appeared at his home, but the police say he died more than three months ago, so it would not correspond to August.
The FA also records a murder in Cerro Largo, but the fact was discarded for the analysis of The Observer because it was a crime that occurred on July 31. In addition, it adds the discovery of a body in a landfill in Canelones, but according to the expertise it was a natural death.
The Broad Front, meanwhile, adds to the August count five deaths that were described by The Observer as doubtful due to lack of information to classify them as homicide as explained further down in this note.
Other data
The official data will be presented at the end of the second half of this year. From the Ministry of the Interior, Minister Luis Alberto Heber prefers not to make a promise to reduce crimes that conditions his management; in late July, however, he told informal breakfasts (channel 12): “I think homicides are going to drop substantially this semester”.
In 2021 and 2020 August closed with 29 homicides, according to information from the National Observatory on Violence and Crime of the Ministry of the Interior. In 2019 in August there were 21; in 2018, 18; in 2017, 19; and in 2016, 19.
The cases
The Observer recorded in August 35 homicides in August. And the detail is as follows:
The August 4th in the afternoon a femicide occurred in Paso de las Duranas (Montevideo). The police received information that a man had killed his ex-partner in front of her two daughters. The same day, in Rivera, a man was killed with a shot to the head. Another murdered his brother with several stab wounds in Montevideo and turned himself in.
The August 5 a man and a woman were shot to death in the Marconi neighborhood of Montevideo. A 20-year-old man also died after a gunshot attack in Cerro Norte.
The 6th August a man was found dead from a gunshot, in the street. Meanwhile, in Cruz de Carrasco, a 21-year-old man was killed with two shots.
The August 7th in Florida a man grabbed a rifle and killed his brother to prevent him from attacking his sister-in-law. The same day, but in Canelones, a young man murdered a 15-year-old teenager.
The August 14 At dawn, a prisoner from the Cerro Carancho prison in Rivera was stabbed.
The August 15th a woman died and two men were injured after a shooting attack in the La Paloma area of the Cerro neighborhood (Montevideo).
The August 19 the police begin to investigate a femicide in Salto. A man was charged in that case. The same day, in the Cordón neighborhood of Montevideo, a man was killed after a street fight. Another man was shot in the face, in Canelones, and died.
The 20th of August in the afternoon, a 26-year-old man was murdered in the Cerro neighborhood. That day the police found a lifeless person in the waters of the Laguna del Sauce, in Maldonado. He had been stabbed 14 times, according to the autopsy. They also stabbed a man to death on a property near the Felipe Cardozo plant.
The August 21 At dawn a 25-year-old man was shot to death after an argument in Flores.
The August 23rd there was a double homicide in Piedras Blancas: mother and son were shot.
The August 24 Three bodies were found in a vacant area in the Peñarol neighborhood. Later, a man killed his 8-year-old son and his 32-year-old partner in Manga; then the aggressor committed suicide (the report does not count self-eliminations).
The August 25thAt dawn, a man was murdered in the Verdisol neighborhood.
The 26 of August a new homicide occurred: this time in Cruz de Carrasco.
The August 27th a woman was killed while watching television in her home in the Marconi neighborhood. The bullet entered from outside and killed her. The same day another homicide occurred, in Jardines del Hipodromo.
The August 28 a man escaped after running over and killing a woman in the Marconi neighborhood. That same day a man was shot to death at the Quaraí (Artigas) hockey club, sources from the departmental headquarters confirmed to The Observer.
The August 30th a man was murdered in Toledo (Canelones). On the night of that day, they killed two young people aged 17 and 18 in Montevideo.
doubtful deaths
The report of The Observer includes five doubtful deaths, which were not added to the homicides because it has not yet been confirmed that it was a violent death, because there are ongoing investigations, or for other reasons.
The cases are the following:
On August 1, the body of a man in his 40s was found on a municipal property in Maldonado. The case is under investigation.
On August 3, they found a body among the garbage at the Felipe Cardoso plant. For the Broad Front this is the first death in August.
On August 14, a man was found dead under some metal sheets in the town of Migues (Canelones). He had a serious head injury.
On August 17, the police arrested a woman for the alleged murder of her husband, who had been missing since October 2021 in Paysandú. Although the arrest occurs in August, it cannot be indicated when the victim was murdered. The Broad Front counted this victim as one of the August murders.
On August 28, sources informed The Observer that a person was found dead under a bridge over the Conventos stream (Cerro Largo). Investigators are still trying to find out if it was a suicide or a homicide.
