Belize’s Murder Rate Soars with Six Killings in a Week, Minister Cites Overall Decrease

Despite the six murders reported in less than one week, Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa, says the numbers for major crimes are down. Since last Thursday, five men and one toddler have lost their lives to violence. For this year alone, seventy-five people have been murdered, which is twelve fewer murders when compared to the same period last year. Today, when asked about the murder rate, Musa explained that while there has been a jump in the number of homicides, the police are doing their best to keep people safe.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs: “Every time we meet you want to discuss numbers and so you put us in that precarious position and so it’s not something that I often times celebrate. As you know we just enjoyed the month and a half lul of not having violent crime and yes that is a good thing but that does not mean that the police is in any way letting up its guard and staying on the beat and staying on the ground. It is just unfortunate that we are having these incidents, the one that played out with the triple murder very unfortunate in San Pedro but again good police work we’re hoping it can lead to the arrest of those two individuals and likewise lead to the arrest of the two responsible for the murder in Hattieville as well. It is in a rural community and of course it appears to have been robbery, robbery as the motive and so it’s very difficult to be able to predict things like that. The police cannot be everywhere all at once and that is why we rely heavily on the community, on neighborhood watch groups to respond whenever you notice suspicious individuals in your neighborhood to call the police so that the police can come and take preventative action so that we do not have this kind of loss of life.”

Police have only been able to make arrests in one of the six murders but have identified, and are seeking suspects in the other incidents