Central and South America are two of the world’s most dangerous regions in terms of murder.  Globally, however, the oft-disparaged U.S. ally Colombia achieved the most significant single-country decline in such killings. 

These conclusions are according to a study of world murder rates conducted by the Democratic Leadership Council.

[The data are drawn from the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, the intergovernmental Geneva Declaration group's 2007 report on violence and the World Health Organization.]

The most recent global data estimates note that there were about 490,000 deaths in 2008, or an average of 7.6 murders per 100,000 people per year.  The DLC report notes that, “The highest murder rates are in Southern Africa, with about 34 killings per 100,000 people annually. Central America is close behind at 30 murders, followed by South America at 28.” 

El Salvador and Venezuela were among those having the highest national murder rates, with the caveat that the most chaotic of countries – think Zimbabwe – don’t publish reliable statistics on violent crime.  Still, it’s important to understand that parts of Latin America could improve public safety, which is a basic building block of the nation-state. 

Venezuela should stop dabbling in oddball foreign affairs ventures with Iran, and concentrate on internal matters.  Progress associated with El Salvador’s engagement with the world vis a vis DR-CAFTA recently earned it distinction as a Central American Tiger, yet public safety remains an impediment to fuller development.  Mexico faces drug cartel violence so bad that a Catholic priest and two seminarians as well as pacifist Mennonite Christians were recently killed.  And the list of Latin America examples goes on.

Colombia's recent drop from 67 to 33 per 100,000 – again, noted in the DLC report as the sharpest single-country decline – is ironic considering that the Democratic Congress has stonewalled implementation legislation on a free-trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia.  Democrats cite Colombia’s failure to scale back violence in the troubled nation, especially using the myth that trade unionists in Colombia are more likely to be murder victims simply because they are trade unionists.  What will Democrats think of next?

The U.S., for its part, had a national average of 5.6 victims per 100,000 Americans.  Our esteemed capital of Washington, with 22.4, far outpaces the national average, proof that the city is not just dangerous to liberty, but to life and limb as well.