Crime down in Guatemala

While the murders of the San Jose Pinula mayoral candidates and that of Facundo Cabral brought international attention to the violence in Guatemala once again, final numbers for June show that it was the least violent month in six years.

According to Carlos Mendoza at CABI, the National Civilian Police reported that 407 people were murdered during the month of June. This number is significantly lower than the 500 people murdered on average for the year's first five months. Should the total number of deaths for the first six months of the year be repeated for the second half, the year's homicide rate will end up at 40 per 100,000 - lower than both 2009 (46) and 2010 (41). That's a big if but it is promising.

40 per 100,000 isn't great, but it is better than the last several years and much better than neighboring Honduras and El Salvador. While Colom can't hype how great things are, I'm surprised that he hasn't put a better spin on what's going on his administration's progress.

The Peten massacre was terrible as was that of Cabral. However, we are making progress in the fight against drug traffickers and organized crime...

We are doing our best with the limited resources that we have and have recently received promises from the US Secretary of State that more aid will be forthcoming...

My government's policies are working and if only UNE had a candidate for this year's presidential election, I would strongly encourage you to vote for her.

Colom and his ex-wife have only to look in their separate mirrors to find those to blame.