Attacks on Mexico City taxi passengers dropped during the lockdowns of 2020, but came back with a vengeance in 2021.

According to federal data, theft against taxi and rideshare passengers in Mexico City in 2021 was the second worst year according to available records, with 75% more recorded robberies than in 2020. The worst year was 2019.

There were 569 recorded thefts against passengers in 2021 compared to 326 in the previous year, according to Public Security Ministry data. Of the 569 robberies, 270 were violent.

The attacks were more common in some boroughs than in others. In 2021, the highest incidence of such thefts was seen in Cuauhtémoc, 93, Iztapalapa, 79, Benito Juárez, 56, Miguel Hidalgo, 52, Venustiano Carranza, 50, Álvaro Obregón, 49 and Gustavo A. Madero with 48.

One victim, Jennifer Espinosa, was robbed in a taxi in the city center. The driver stopped the taxi, allowing two men in, who blinded her with an ointment. “They told me it was an assault and that they needed my credit cards, money and whatever else I had with me. Sure enough, they took the cards out of my wallet. Later … we stopped at an ATM and they forced me to give them my PIN numbers and they took out the money. After that they took my rings, chains, earrings, bracelet, watch, and they told me that if I behaved well nothing was going to happen to me. That they were thieves, not rapists,” she said.

Another victim, Regina, was involved in a violent robbery. She took a taxi on Reforma Avenue in the historic center. Seven kilometers south, the driver stopped citing a mechanical failure. "I tried to get out, but there was no way to move the handle to open the door … I saw another person was standing by the door. [The driver] told me, we are not going to rape you, we just want your paycheck."

Regina was warned to close her eyes and keep her head down, while she was beaten in the face and stomach. “They took everything I brought of value … they even took my Metro card … it is still difficult for me to get into a taxi, the truth is that they beat me a lot, they hit my face, they hit my stomach a lot, I could not work for a long time,” she said.

With reports from Milenio