Violence-stricken Rosario saw four people killed in just three hours on Wednesday, with the slayings taking the city past 150 homicides so far in 2023.
The grim landmark was passed on Wednesday, after a mother and son were killed by two assailants on motorbikes who shot the duo in a drive-by shooting.
Both died on arrival at hospital. Local media reported that the young man had been threatened previously for his alleged role in drug-dealing.
The double homicide came just hours after another man was gunned down in Villa Gobernador Gálvez in Greater Rosario by presumed hired assassins. Using the same modus operandi, four men travelling two motorbikes shot the victim multiple times. A 16-year-old boy was also wounded, with the man losing his life at hospital.
In another grizzly piece of gang violence, a man was shot dead by at least three assassins in Granadero Baigorria, on the northern outskirts of the city.
Rosario, home to Argentina’s main port, is suffering an uptick in violence compared to last year, which is already reflected in the statistics. These latest murders lift the crime-ridden city’s homicide tally to 151 so far this year.
The vast majority of known crimes are linked to drug-trafficking. According to experts, through the waterway of the Paraná River, the port city is now a major departure point for the sending of drugs from Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay to Europe and Asia.
Rosario, with a population of 1.3 million, has a homicide rate of 22 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to recent government data, five times the national average.
– TIMES/NA
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