The Dominican Republic is one of the countries with the lowest levels of insecurity on the continent, ranking eighth among 22 countries analyzed in Latin America.
The statement was made by the Minister of the Presidency of the Republic, Gustavo Montalvo, who was the guest speaker at the June monthly luncheon of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic (AMCHAMDR).
During his presentation at AMCHAMDR's monthly luncheon, Montalvo drew on 2018 data from InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to studying organized crime, which found that the Dominican Republic recorded 10.4 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants.
This report also details that the country has higher levels of security than countries like Costa Rica (crime rate of 11.1 per 100,000 inhabitants) or Uruguay, with a rate of 11.8. The neighboring island of Puerto Rico, a closer example, with 20 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, has twice the crime rate.
In addition to these statistics, the minister also listed data related to urban security. For example, he cited a report from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) revealing that 43 of the 50 cities with the most violence in the world's homicide rate are located in Latin America.
"On that list of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world, there isn't a single Dominican city. We're far from any similar figure," Montalvo noted at AMCHAMDR's monthly luncheon, held at the Garden Tent of the Hotel El Embajador.
The city with the lowest rate of violence on that list is New Orleans, in the United States, with a rate of 36.87 homicides per 100,000, while Santo Domingo has 8.66 homicides per 100,000. Along these lines, Montalvo noted that the number of violent deaths in the country has been reduced by almost half in the last eight years. Furthermore, in the first quarter of 2019, homicides have decreased by 61% compared to the same period in 2018.
The minister emphasized the need to analyze global trends and not be guided by beliefs about various sectors that ignore the changes and progress achieved in the country in recent years.
AMCHAMDR SAYS PLAN NEEDED TO COUNTERACT TOURISM SITUATION
Prior to the Minister of the Presidency's intervention, Ramón Ortega, president of AMCHAMDR, affirmed that the security incidents that have recently affected tourism are the responsibility of both the country's public and private sectors, while also indicating that they can be prevented "as long as a strategic plan is implemented to counter them."
Ortega highlighted the contribution tourism makes to the Dominican economy, where, according to official figures, 6.5 million visitors arrived in the country last year alone, 2.3 million of whom were U.S. citizens.
He said that thanks to these figures, the country has been able to position itself as one of the Caribbean's leading tourist destinations, reflecting the work done by the public and private sectors to define and implement a tourism development plan focused on safety, quality, and responsibility.
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