The month of January registered 20 homicides less than the same period of 2018, according to information provided by the Ministry of Public Security.

In the first 31 days of 2019 authorities handled a total of 39 homicides, while during this same time period in 2018 the number of homicides was of 59. This number has not had such a significant decrease since November 2015.

The number of homicides has been decreasing since the middle of 2018 managing to close with a 2.8% decrease in the number of murders in comparison to 2017.

Michael Soto, Minister of Public Security, has highlighted the importance of the mega-operations carried out since last year, 61 in total during 2018 and 10 so far this year. Thanks to these operations, authorities managed to seize 457 weapons in 2018 and 22 this year.

“Just like in 2018 we manage to bring down the homicide rate, in this 2019 we will continue developing the necessary efforts to contin
ue with this trend, with this purpose in mind we will provide the necessary resources to our police bodies in order to more efficiently contain criminality”, commented Soto.

Police authorities in Costa Rica also work to guarantee safe vacation for local and foreign tourists.