Homicides declined 8.4% in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period of 2021, the federal government reported Tuesday.

Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez presented data that showed there were 20,722 homicides between January and August, 1,909 fewer than in the first eight months of last year. On average, there were 85.6 murders per day between January 1 and August 31.

Last month, there were 2,624 murders, a 7% decline compared to August 2021. Rodríguez highlighted that it was the least violent August of the past five years in terms of the total number of homicides. She also emphasized that murders were down 14.6% in August compared to the most violent month on record – July 2018 – when 3,074 homicides were recorded.

“We have advanced in the tasks of peace-building and security in the country,” the security minister told President López Obrador’s morning press conference.

“… Today we live in better conditions of peace and it’s clear that the national security strategy is working,” Rodríguez declared, even though cartels ran riot in four states in August and this six-year period of government is likely to be the most violent in decades.

“Every government … does its work, with challenges, but also with clear advances,” she said, referring to federal, state and municipal authorities.

“It’s a collective achievement that benefits the population. The heart of the national security strategy is attention to the causes that generate violence,” Rodríguez said, alluding to the federal government’s so-called “hugs, not bullets” security approach.

“… We continue to coordinate actions to combat all criminal structures so that there is zero impunity and zero corruption.”

The security minister reported that 48.7% of all homicides in the first eight months of the year occurred in just six states. Guanajuato was the most violent with 2,115 murders between January and August, followed by Baja California, Michoacán, México state, Jalisco and Chihuahua.

Rodríguez also reported statistics for various other crimes. Among those that declined in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period of 2021 were cattle theft, vehicle theft, burglaries and drug trafficking. Among those that increased were firearms offenses and property crimes.

Mexico News Daily