The government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador surpassed the mark of 120,000 murders in three and a half years of management, according to the most recent figures from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP).
The latest update of the SESNSP, published on Monday, June 20, indicates that in May there were 2,833 intentional homicides and 77 femicides.
With this, from the beginning of López Obrador’s six-year term in December 2018 until last May — a total of 42 months — 121,655 murders are counted: this includes 118,192 intentional homicides and 3,463 femicides (homicides based on gender).
This equates to an average of 2,896 people killed each month.
So far, 2019 has been the most violent year of the six-year term. In that period, 35,661 murders were registered: 34,689 intentional homicides and 972 femicides.
The figures show that the levels of violence in the country remain at high levels, despite the fact that since before the beginning of his administration López Obrador promised to “pacify” the country.
To that end, he said he would focus on combating poverty and inequality as the main causes of crime.
Violence on the rise
The high levels of violence did not begin to be registered in López Obrador’s six-year term. The number of murders in the country began to grow since the mandate of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012), after the launch of the so-called “war on drugs”.
In 2009, in the middle of Calderón’s term, Mexico closed the year with 16,118 intentional homicides, while it ended 2012 with 21,459, according to SESNSP statistics, which were then elaborated with another methodology and still did not contemplate femicides.
In 2015, in the middle of the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), and already with the methodology currently used, Mexico closed the year with 18,312 murders (17,885 intentional homicides and 427 femicides), while it ended 2018 with 34,657 murders (33,738 intentional homicides and 919 femicides).
Several security specialists agree that the López Obrador administration has managed to stop the levels of violence from growing with the speed with which they did in past six-year terms, but not to make the numbers fall to the ranks prior to the so-called “war on drugs.”
Read more: May is the most violent month so far in 2022, monthly report confirms; totals 2,833 homicides
