Caribbean May Now Have Highest Murder Rate

According to the Word Bank, the Caribbean may now have the highest murder rate as a region. Things you will not find in the travel brochures. White sandy beaches masking as something completely different as unsuspecting tourists lay of the beach and get a tan. Is it any wonder why some tourists wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Blaming most of the violent crime in countries like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago on the trafficking of Colombian cocaine to Europe and the United States, the report said the region’s homicide rate of 30 per 100,000 inhabitants a year was higher even than troubled southern and western Africa.

It acknowledged that murder statistics in small countries were often problematic because a relatively small number of incidents can result in high rates but said it was clear that homicides were a growing problem in the Caribbean.

“While levels of crime and associated circumstances vary by country, the strongest explanation for the relatively high rates of crime and violence in the region — and their apparent rise in recent years — is narcotics trafficking,” said the report, jointly prepared by the World Bank and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. (Yahoo News)

Hat Tip: Richard