According to official reports, Mexico’s murder rates increased to historic figures in the first three months of 2019. Authorities confirmed the death of 8,493 people from January 1st to March 31st which is a 9.6% rise compared to the same period in 2018.
This contradicts the publicly expressed aims of newly elected Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who promised to decrease violence in Mexico during his presidential campaign and the creation of a new security force: The National Guard; a 80,000 person strong security force to be implemented by the end of 2019.
In 1997 homicide records began to be kept by the National System for Public Security (NSPS). Since this time, Mexico’s deadliest year was in 2018 when 33,369 people were killed. President Lopez Obrador has expressed that he has inherited a violent country from his predecessor who also targeted violence during his term and was responsible for the arrest of drug lord: Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Experts have expressed that even with successive Mexican presidents declaring a war on drugs in an attempt to defeat Mexico’s powerful drug cartels and even with the arrest of many high-profile cartel bosses, violence has not stopped. In fact, it has led to the number of victims rising with smaller cartels fighting for control in disputed areas. According to the NSPS, the state with the highest murder rate in 2019 was Guanajuato in central Mexico, where 947 people have been killed since the start of the year. This is the location of where two powerful cartel’s dispute control.
The weekend massacre of 2019
Thirteen people were killed in a club in Minatitlan, Veracruz. Investigations have revealed that rival cartels: Jalisco New Generation and Cartel dos Zetas are responsible for the act. Witnesses have confirmed that six masked men, heavily armed, approached the bar around 9pm local time, killing the bar’s owner and twelve others that were nearby, including a one-year old baby. Local police believe this type of crime is related to rival cartels controlling businesses around the region.
Kidnapping, extortion and oil theft are a few of the other activities local cartels practice in Veracruz.