Homicides Drop In Puerto Rico

An anti-drug crackdown helped drive down Puerto Rico’s homicide rate in 1995 for the first time in 12 years, but it’s still the highest in the United States.

The homicide rate in this U.S. commonwealth has soared over the past decade, terrifying its 3.6 million residents as gangs fought for the chance to ship drugs through the island to the mainland United States.

Last year, 851 people were killed in Puerto Rico, down 14 percent from the previous year’s total of 987, according to figures released Monday by police spokesman Ramon Rodriguez.

That meant a homicide rate last year of 23.6 killings per 100,000 people for the island - nearly 2-1/2 times the 1994 national rate of 9.7 killings per 100,000 people. New York City had 2,245 killings that year.

In 1983, before its surge of drug crime, Puerto Rico had just 421 homicides.

Gov. Pedro Rossello, elected three years ago on a promise to restore order, sent police and National Guard troops to sweep out crime in public housing projects, where 350,000 people live.

Since June 1993, they have taken over 72 housing projects in swift nighttime raids with helicopters and armored cars. Violent crime has dropped by 30 percent since Rossello took office.