National homicide numbers remained unchanged between July and August but Guanajuato and Michoacán both saw significant increases in violence.
There were 3,054 victims of homicide and femicide in each of July and August, according to the National Public Security System (SNSP). The unchanged figures for the two months are 0.6% lower than the 3,074 homicides recorded in June.
All told, 23,724 people were murdered in the first eight months of the year, a 3.5% increase compared to the same period of 2018, which was the most violent year since the SNSP started recording comparable statistics in 1997.
While the spiraling homicide rate has been halted since the nationwide deployment of the National Guard on June 30, violence has not been contained uniformly across the country.
Between July and August, homicide numbers went down in 16 states but increased in 15. The murder rate was unchanged in Nuevo León.
Guanajuato and Michoacán recorded the largest increases in homicides from one month to the next.
The number of murder victims in both states increased by 22% in August compared to the previous month. In Guanajuato, 296 people lost their lives to violent crime in August compared to 242 in July, while in Michoacán the number of homicide victims increased to 202 from 165.
Jalisco, the home state of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organization, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, saw a 9% reduction in homicide numbers between July and August.
In per-capita terms, Colima was the most violent state in the country in August. The small Pacific coast state recorded 8.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last month.
Baja California was the second most violent, recording a per-capita rate of 7.4, followed by Chihuahua, where there were 5.8 homicide victims per 100,000 residents. The national per-capita murder rate in August was 2.4.
SNSP statistics show that homicide is not the only high-impact crime that increased in the first eight months of the year.
The number of kidnappings rose 9% to 937 cases compared to 860 in the same period of 2018, while extortion increased 36% to 5,671 investigations between January and August.
Source: Milenio (sp)
