The holidays brought hundreds of wounded to the emergency rooms of the public hospitals. Gunshot wounds, knifings and traffic accidents overflowed the ER at the Dario Contreras Hospital, one of the nation’s largest. Dr. Laura Santos told reporters that her unit received 152 injured between the morning of the 31st and the morning of the New Year. Fireworks were to blame for many of the burns. As the new week begins, the total casualties over the Christmas and New Year holidays added up to 71 and there were 678 reported injuries. This year there were 39 traffic accident fatalities.
Twenty-five of the deaths occurred over the last 24 hours of the holiday period, with 17 shootings and five stabbings. Still, the total was four dead less than last year’s total.