(Credit: CARLOS EDUARDO RAMIREZ / AFP via Getty Images)
(CNN Spanish) -
In 2020 there were 11,891 deaths from violent causes, according to the annual balance offered this Tuesday by Roberto Briceño León, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), a rate of 45.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
The organization highlights that the death rate was reduced compared to 2019, when 16,506 deaths were registered.
Briceño León warned that for Venezuela "this year there were two pandemics: Covid-19 and violence."
In this sense, he warned that the violence has been "11 times more lethal than the epidemic."
According to figures offered by the Ministry of Communication and Information, 1,018 people have died from causes attributable to covid-19 since March.
The director of the OVV attributes the decrease in violent deaths to quarantine and the migration of popular sectors in the country.
It stands out that January and May were the most violent months, and that in March, in the midst of the quarantine measures, most of the businesses remained closed and the citizens mostly at home.
Briceño León also specified that the most violent months were January, as a consequence of crime, and May due to "resistance to authority."
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Since 2016, the OVV has found a sustained increase in police fatality in relation to deaths caused in events attributed to the action of crime.
Despite this trend, the numbers for violent deaths have been declining since 2017, according to the organization's annual reports.
He also explained that of the number of deaths registered this year, 4,153 correspond to homicides, 4,231;
resistance to authority and 3,507 deaths are still under investigation.
91% of the victims were men, 68% were between 18 and 40 years old, 99% were Venezuelans and 14% of homicides were registered with a knife.
The OVV report studies violence in 15 of the 23 states of the country with researchers from public or private universities.
CNN consulted with the Ministry of Interior and Justice to know the figures of the Executive Branch without having received a response so far.
In the past, the government of the questioned President Nicolás Maduro affirmed that they have initiated disciplinary proceedings against officials accused of violating human rights.
The government indicated that it reinforced security controls in the national territory.
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