CARACAS: Venezuela had the highest murder rate in Latin America last year, official data released Tuesday showed.

"At 48 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, it remains a very high rate. That is the truth," acknowledged by Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, responding to lawmakers' questions in the legislature.

El Aissami did not give the total number of homicides last year but indicated that they amounted to around 14,000.

The independent Venezuelan Violence Observatory, which follows crime trends in the country, puts the total at 17,600.

The murder rate given by El Aissami surpasses those of neighboring Colombia, which was 32 per 100,000 inhabitants last year, and Mexico, which was 14 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Colombia is beset by a leftist insurgency and Mexico is in the throes of bloody war among drug cartels.

The world average is eight homicides per 100,000 people, according to official statistics.