Mexico registered just over 2,000 intentional homicides during the month of November, marking a return to the year’s trend of declining violence. 

Preliminary figures derived from daily reports by the federal government counted 2,071 homicides over the course of the month, giving an average of 69 per day. 

Official homicide data released by the National Public Security System (SESNSP) later in the month tends to show a slightly higher rate; all the same, November appears to have been a markedly less violent month than October, when an average of 80 homicides per day were recorded.

Indeed, November’s homicide rate is one of lowest of 2022 so far, equaling February’s tally and only surpassed by January, which registered 66.5 killings per day. It is also 7.6% lower than the same month in 2021.

Overall, 2022 has shown a slight improvement in the rates of violence across Mexico, with the first nine months of the year showing an 8.1% reduction in homicides compared to 2021. After the flare-up of violence in October, November’s return to this trend is a positive sign.

However, violence remains alarmingly high. More than 140,000 homicides have been registered since President López Obrador took office in 2018, making his first four years in government 61.2% more violent than the same period of the previous administration.  

Guanajuato remains the most violent state in Mexico, with 243 killings during November, including a massacre of nine people in a bar in Apaseo el Alto on November 9. It was followed by México state, with 183; Baja California, with 178; Michoacán, with 163; Jalisco, with 139 and Zacatecas, with 135.

While most states saw a reduction from October’s levels of violence, Mexico City saw a 25% increase in homicides, from 65 in October to 81 in November, making last month the capital’s most violent of 2022 so far.

With reports from Animal Político, Razón and Diario de México