Thursday, October 9, 2025

2 officials predict worsening insecurity, violence in post-virus ‘new normal’

Violence and crime will increase as a result of the coronavirus-induced economic crisis, predict two federal officials.

The head of the government’s Financial Intelligence Unit warned that violence and certain crimes will increase as coronavirus restrictions are eased and Mexico enters what has been dubbed “the new normal.”

Speaking at a “justice, transparency and Covid-19” conference on Tuesday, Santiago Nieto bluntly declared that an economic and security “crisis is obviously coming.”

He predicted that burglaries, financial fraud, human trafficking and child pornography offenses will be among the crimes that will increase. Mexico’s court system will consequently come under significant pressure, Nieto said.

For his part, the head of the Federal Protection Service, a division of the Security Ministry, told the newspaper El Universal that Mexico is likely to go through a “very rough” period of insecurity in the next three to six months.

Manuel Espino: a rough period of insecurity during next three to six months.
Manuel Espino: a rough period of insecurity during next three to six months.

Commissioner Manuel Espino Barrientos said the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn caused by the mitigation measures put in place to limit the spread of the virus will leave Mexico in a “very complicated” security situation.

More than 750,000 people have already lost their jobs in the formal sector due to the pandemic and analysts and financial institutions are forecasting that the economy will suffer a deep recession in 2020.

Violence and crime will increase because a lot of people “will not find work but they will be hungry,” Espino said.

“We could go through a very rough period of insecurity. It’s a common sense forecast that must be taken into account,” he said.

The warnings of the two officials are particularly ominous given that violence is already at extremely high levels despite authorities urging citizens to stay in their homes for the past two months.

March was the most violent month since President López Obrador took office in December 2018, with 3,000 homicides.

Security Minister Alfonso Durazo highlighted last week that homicide numbers declined by 1.66% in April to 2,950 but failed to mention that the average daily number of murders during the 30 days of last month was in fact higher than the daily average during the 31 days of March.

Homicide numbers for the first four months of the year show that 2020 is currently on track to supersede 2019 as the most violent year on record.

There were 11,535 homicides in the first four months of the year, according to data from the National Public Security System, a 2.4% increase compared to the same period of 2019.

Source: El Universal (sp), Reforma (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
sargassum

Mexico’s Caribbean coast welcomes early end to sargassum season

2
Sargassum on Quintana Roo's beaches caused a lot of problems throughout the season, but in reality, the quantities seen were lower than experts had predicted earlier in the year.

Migrant apprehensions at Mexico border hit 55-year low, US reports

5
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported 237,565 apprehensions at the Mexico-U.S. border in Fiscal Year 2025, the lowest total since Fiscal Year 1970.
Mammoth discovery made in Mexico City

How Mexican scientists uncovered the story of the first mammoths in the Americas

1
The important new discoveries were made after an airport construction project uncovered ancient Ice Age mammoth fossils.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity