President Luis Lacalle Pou referred to the growing concern over cases of serious unsafety that shake Uruguay, among them the quadruple crime of the neighborhood Maracana, and admitted that the issue is one of the government’s greatest pending issues: “We have not been able to deal with the homicides,” he maintained.
At a press conference in Mercedes, The president expressed the government’s “enormous concern” regarding the multiple cases of homicides that have occurred in recent days in the country, some of which have involved children and the elderly as victims. However, he rejected the issue being used as “a campaign platform“.
“That there is a campaign speech with injured or dead children, no. Unfortunately it has been an issue for ten years. It was a campaign issue and it is logical that it should be the next one if it is a concern. But let’s get to what was said Many years ago, a candidate said that he was going to reduce looting and theft by 30%. Lacalle Pou in reference to the electoral promise of Tabare Vazquez of 2014.
“The observatory is the same, it is the first time that crimes have decreased. Significantly theft, robbery and not to mention rustling. I am not satisfied but the truth must be told,” he expressed, once again rescuing the results recorded by the Crime Observatory of the Ministry of the Interior.
Regarding the Maracaná quadruple crime, the president said that the police have “important elements” to solve it, but he noted that he could not “advance further” because it would make the investigation more complex. “It is not an isolated event from that day, that night. It is a conflict that has been spreading among certain groups of people for a long time,” he stressed.
Martinelli recognized the “problem with homicides”
The Minister of the Interior Nicolas Martinelli He admitted that there is “a problem with homicides,” but that the ministry is working to reduce the number of cases: “We know and recognize that we have a problem with homicides, that is why we are working and busy trying to reduce the number.” He maintained, during the presentation of the biometric control of people who have house arrest or preventive detention.
“There is a lot that is being done, naturally the processes do not happen from one day to the next. All the work in cases takes a lot of work, 15 or 20 years,” justified Martinelli, who also highlighted the change in the Homicide Departmentwhich “has managed to substantially improve the level of clarification of the homicides.”
“We went from an average of between 48% and 52% to 63% at the end of the year,” he said in this regard, noting that “that is a clear message against those who decide to commit crimes” and “against impunity.”
Likewise, the owner of the Ministry of Interior He assured that “we are on this path, which has led us to stop crimes, after 15 years of uninterrupted growth.” “For the first time in many years, this government has managed to change that trend. We already have four years of casualties in robberies, thefts and cattle rustling,” he added, rescuing the most recent figures from the Crime Observatory of the portfolio he directs.
Source: Ambito
