Santiago de Chile in the midst of security crisis.

According to official reports, in Chile there have been 47 homicides so far this year 2024, of which 14 have occurred in a single week and most of these have been committed with firearms.

 
Constanza Martinez, the presidential delegate of the Metropolitan Region in Chile reiterated that there is an increase in homicides during the last 10 years. A situation that worries local authorities and the current government of Gabriel Boric.

The security situation in the country is worrying. Despite this situation, the Chilean government has been much more reluctant to implement measures such as a state of emergency to control the overflow of crime in Santiago.

According to the governor of the Metropolitan Region, Claudio Orrego, he stated that 85 billion pesos will be allocated to implement a special project of the Prosecutor’s Office to help stop the wave of homicides attacking the country.

The current situation in the country has a background since before 2020, where demonstrations and criminal acts, added to the migratory crisis due to the massive arrival of Venezuelan citizens through unauthorized crossings. These phenomenon initially affected the north of Chile and currently Santiago is the one who is seeing most of the ravages of civil delinquency.

 
Santiago de Chile, the Chilean capital, has been most affected by crime, with a 12% increase in homicides, according to a report presented by regional prosecutors. Half of the murders in recent days have been concentrated in the western sector of the city.

However, security experts say that the wave of violence in Santiago is not unrelated to that of other Latin American capitals that have seen homicides, assaults and kidnappings rise over the past decade.

Santiago currently accounts for almost half of all homicides nationwide. In order to address this security situation, the Organized Crime and Homicide Team (ECOH), a multidisciplinary team made up of police and prosecutors, has been in place since mid-2023 to investigate homicide and kidnapping crimes in this specific region of the Chilean country.