May was the most violent month so far in 2022 with over 2,800 homicides.

Statistics presented by Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez Monday showed that there were 2,833 homicides last month, a 6.8% increase compared to March, which had been the most violent month of the year with 2,653 homicides.

Murders last month increased 10.9% compared to April, although that month had one less day. Compared to May last year, homicides declined by 5.5%.

Rodríguez noted that last month was the least violent May in five years. She also observed that murders declined 7.8% compared to the most violent month on record – July 2018 – when 3,074 homicides were recorded.

“We continue to work with a lot of coordination and strategy to control organized crime,” the security minister told President López Obrador’s morning news conference.

Rodríguez also presented data that showed there were 12,737 homicides in the first five months of the year for an average of 84 per day. The graph showed that homicides were down 10.8% compared to the same period of 2021, 13.2% lower than in the first five months of 2020 and 10.4% below the number recorded in the January through May period of 2019.

Another graph showed that 48% of the 12,737 homicides in the first five months of the year occurred in just six states. Guanajuato was the most violent state in the period with 1,292 homicides followed by Michoacán with 1,204; México state with 1,067; Baja California with 1,039; Jalisco with 816; and Sonora with 732.

Yucatán was the least violent state with just 18 homicides between January and May, while Aguascalientes recorded 22 and Campeche registered 31. Of the 32 federal entities, Mexico City was the 16th most violent with 304 homicides.

Guanajuato, which has been Mexico’s most violent state in recent years, recorded a 31.7% increase in homicides between April and May, with the total number of victims rising from 227 to 299. Among the violent incidents in May was an attack on a Celaya hotel and two adjoining bars that claimed 10 lives. Among the criminal groups that operate in Guanajuato are the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, the latter of which began as a fuel theft gang before diversifying into other crimes.

Rodríguez also presented data for a range of other crimes. Among those that declined in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year were drug trafficking, tax crimes, femicide, assault, home burglaries and vehicle theft. Among those that increased were firearms offenses and extortion – a crime that particularly affects business owners.

Mexico News Daily