The cases of “sicariato” (contract killing) are an expression of this scourge and rose, from 54 in 2018, to 320 during the past 2022, the year of the maximum peak so far, the criminologist specified in the newspaper’s article regarding the problems that the president-elect, Santiago Peña, will have to tackle.

“We have a gradual advance, it is no longer a border problem, but a national one and, therefore, it requires an approach in that sense,” the expert said, who explained how these homicides go from the borders to the capital and the center of the country.

Most of these contract homicides during the five-year period were in the northern department of Amambay, bordering Brazil, but those registered in Asunción and Central are so many that they rank second, according to the Atlas of Violence, Corruption and Organized Crime, Martens quoted.

The criminologist, who believes that the “sicariato” must be confronted with greater integral control of organized crime, argued that “first we must reduce cocaine shipments, the planting and sale of marijuana, the trafficking of arms and human beings, because all of these are related”.

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