Bloody March: Most killings in 15 years

The month of March was listed as the bloodiest in 15 years with  43 murders in the most violent provinces: Panama 27, Colon 7, Panama West 5, and Chiriqui.3. The Guna Yala Comarca had one killing according to figures compiled by El Siglo.

The deaths were largely among criminal groups with 17 listed as executions, up three from February Six people were murdered  between  March 24 and 25, , including a double homicide

The country registered 116 homicides, in the first three months. The province of Panama topped the list with 67.

During March  there were three double homicides. The first at midday on March 15 in the parking lot of Centennial Plaza, Betania. A Chinese man who owed casino gambling debts shot and killed his lender Xi Jian Liu, 61, and Qiwen Chen.

The second occurred on March 25 when the dead bodies of retired lieutenant Pablo Bernal Betancourth, 59, and his nephew Armando Serracín, 35, were found., in Villa Lobos Pedregal.

The third was held on March 28 at Playa Grande,  San Carlos when the bodies of a man and a Venezuelan woman were found. Both had a bullet in the head.

Guna Yala, recorded its first homicide when Marco Raunelio Calvo Arias, 29, was gunned down by assailants who arrived by boat to El Porvenir, in Narganá. Police reported that it was a drug settlement.

On March 29, Holy Thursday a Chinese laundry owner shot his wife in the laundry on, Avenida Nacional, Calidonia.

Prediction
Bernal Belgium director of the Institute of Criminology of the University of Panama said that if nothing is done to rescue today’s young people In 20 years, what is happening in the country will triple.