GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemala suffered 2,953 murders during the first nine months of this year, a prominent human rights organization said Friday.

“The ungovernable condition the country currently experiences due to the lack of safety and justice is evident,” the Mutual Support Group, or GAM, says in its latest report, which also mentions the 1,179 people injured in violent incidents through the end of last month.

The two deadliest months were January and September, each with more than 350 homicides.

While the vast majority of the victims, 2,516, were men, 400 women and 37 minors were also slain, GAM said.

“The present situation Guatemalan women face because of the constant violence is terrible,” the group said, noting that no one has been arrested in the cases involving female victims.

GAM also highlighted the risks confronting bus drivers, 109 of whom were killed by gangs for refusing to pay protection money.

The more than 5,400 homicides reported last year in Guatemala – a nation of approximately 13 million – was nearly equal to the number of murders in neighboring Mexico, which has more than 100 million inhabitants and is the scene of open warfare among rival drug cartels. EFE