Intentional homicides recorded their lowest figure in 5 years: Rosa Icela Rodríguez

The number of intentional homicides in Mexico registered an annual decrease of 14.2%, from 2,635 in February 2021 to 2,260 last month, 375 fewer cases, the Government of Mexico reported Thursday.

The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Rosa Icela Rodríguez, said that in the last 9 months there has been a steady downward trend in intentional or intentional homicides.

“We have a steady downward trend in the last 9 months, with intentional homicide declining 26.4%. This is the lowest figure in the last 5 years,” said the official.

In addition, there is a reduction of 18.5% compared to February 2020 and 19.8% less than 2019, with which “the national security strategy works, it is the right one and this is how the country is being pacified,” he said.

He explained that the daily average number of intentional homicides in February 2018, before the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was 87 and during the second month of 2022 it averaged 81, representing a substantial drop in murders.

Rodríguez explained that six states accounted for almost half of the homicides committed in the country.

However, he highlighted that in the 50 priority municipalities that account for 50% of homicides, there was a 10% decrease in this crime between January and February of this year.

Reduction of femicides

The official said that in February 2022 femicide — the murder of a woman for gender reasons — fell by 29% this February compared to the all-time high in August 2021, although 80 cases were recorded. And he said that they continue to work in coordination with the states to combat this crime.

This means that in February 2021 there were 78 women victims of femicide, a figure that compares with 77 in January and 112 in August 2021.

While in reports of family violence there was a 25% drop compared to the all-time high in May 2021.

On the other hand, the SSPC recorded 112 victims of kidnapping in February, a decrease of 39.4% compared to 2019.

However, the 112 abductions in February are higher than 102 in the same month a year ago, according to the figures released, although the official attributed this increase to cases such as that of 22 migrants who were abducted, but almost immediately released.

Although she did not make the year-on-year comparison, the secretary noted that in December 2018, when the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador started, there were 9,062 crimes under federal jurisdiction, while in February 2022 there were 6,074.

The secretary assured that these figures demonstrate the results of “coordinated work” between security and justice units in Mexico “under the policy of zero impunity and zero corruption.”

Luis Rodríguez Bucio, commander of the National Guard, reported that this security force currently has 113,833 members, deployed in 266 national coordinations.

Of these, there are more than 92,558 deployed throughout the territory and the rest in support units.

Mexico recorded 33,308 homicides in 2021 after the two most violent years in its history, under Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with 34,690 murder victims in 2019 and 34,554 in 2020.