Comparable historical statistics of homicide rates show that Argentina has been and to a large extent still is a relatively peaceful society. Based on data from public health reports published by the World Health Organization (WHO), Figures 1 and 2 compare the evolution of homicide rates in Argentina with those of its Mercosur neighbors and other selected countries during 1979-1993. 2 It is clear from this evidence that over this extended period of time Argentina had homicide rates clearly below those of Brazil, Mexico and even the United States.

Nevertheless, in the second half of the 1990s, official crime statistics from Argentine sources show a significant rise, especially since 1994. Figure 3 shows the overall crime rate for 1992-1997 and the corresponding percent increase (in bars), based on data reported by the federal and provincial police forces to the Ministry of Justice. A similar upward pattern is reflected in the evolution of the police-reported homicide rates, as shown in Figure 4. Indeed, it is very likely that the" true" homicide rate in Argentina is higher than 10 (per 100,000 people), because, as noted in Figure 4, the data for 1996 and 1997 do not include data from two high-crime provinces (Salta and Jujuy). 3 And, as shown in Figure 5, these two provinces had some of the highest crime rates in the country in 1995.