Brazil suffers record murder tally in 2017, ahead of election
Brazil had a record number of murders last year, with homicides rising 3.7% from 2016 to 63,880 according to a study released on Thursday, just months before a presidential election in which violence has become a key issue.
Brazil's murder rate reached 30.8 per 100,000 people, up from 29.9 in 2016, according to data published by the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook 2018.
Drug-scarred Mexico, which also suffered a record number of murders in 2017, had a homicide rate of around 20 per 100,000 people.
The rate in the U.S. by comparison was 5.3 in 2016, the latest year available.
Growing violence is a key voter concern ahead of the October election. Far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro wants to loosen gun laws and toughen up policing to tackle the rise in violence.
Bolsonaro leads polling in the presidential race - excluding jailed former president Luiz 'Lula' da Silva, who is barred from running by an April 8 imprisonment supporters say was designed to keep him out of the race.
The data showed that the murder ate varied widely from region to region, with poorer northeastern states such as Rio Grande do Norte having 68 murders per 100,000 people; Acre, in the far west, 63.9; and São Paulo in the southeast, the lowest murder rate at 10.7.
At: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-violence-murder/brazil-suffers-record-murder-tally-in-2017-ahead-of-election-idUSKBN1KU2R5
Beautiful but deadly, tourists enjoy Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach along Roberto Burle Marx's famed mosaic sidewalk, completed in 1970.
