High-ranking security officials attended President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Thursday morning press conference to present the latest data on homicides, arrests and seizures of drugs and firearms.
Sheinbaum herself declared that the decline in homicides since she took office is the result of the new security strategy her government has implemented.
Homicides down almost 25% in April compared to last month of AMLO’s presidency
Marcela Figueroa Franco, head of the National Public Security System (SNSP), reported that there was an average of 65.3 homicides per day in April, according to preliminary data.
The figure represents a decline of 24.9% compared to September 2024, the last month of the six-year term of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Figueroa highlighted that last month was the least violent April since 2016 in terms of homicides.
27% decline in murders between 2018 and 2025
The SNSP chief also presented data that showed that the daily average of homicides this year is 27.3% lower than the daily average in 2018, during which Enrique Peña Nieto was president for the first 11 months.
There was an average of 73.1 homicides per day between Jan. 1 and April 30, 27 fewer than the average of 100.5 murders per day throughout 2018.
Compared to 2024, homicides are down 11% so far this year.
Guanajuato leads Mexico for homicides
Figueroa reported that Guanajuato recorded 1,260 homicides between Jan. 1 and April 30, a figure that accounts for 14.4% of all murders in Mexico in the first four months of the year.
According to the data she presented, 8,770 people were murdered between January and April. A strong majority of homicides in Mexico are related to organized crime.
The number of murders in Guanajuato in the first four months of the year is more than double the number in Baja California, Mexico’s second most violent state so far in 2025.
Baja California, which includes the border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali, recorded 610 murders between January and April, accounting for 7% of the national total.
The next five most violent states in terms of total homicides were:
- México state: 601 homicides or 6.9% of the national total.
- Chihuahua: 589 homicides or 6.7% of the national total.
- Sinaloa: 521 homicides or 5.9% of the national total.
- Jalisco: 495 homicides or 5.6% of the national total.
- Guerrero: 493 homicides or 5.6% of the national total.
Just over 52% of all murders in Mexico in the first four months of the year occurred in the seven most violent states.
Thirteen states recorded fewer than 100 homicides between January and April, of which Yucatán was the least violent with just five murders.
More than 20,000 people arrested for high-impact crimes since Sheinbaum took office
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch reported on the “advances of the national security strategy during the first seven months of this administration.”
He said that more than 20,000 people have been detained for “high-impact crimes” such as murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking and extortion since the federal government took office on Oct. 1.
García Harfuch said that 154 tonnes of illegal drugs and more than 10,000 firearms have been seized in the same period.
Among those arrested during the past seven months are “operators for criminal organizations … who generated high levels of violence,” he said.
“… We’re sure that these arrests will have an impact in the reduction of the crime rate in their [former] areas of operation, as is already seen in various federal entities of the country,” García Harfuch said.
He also highlighted that the Army and Navy have dismantled 896 clandestine drug laboratories across 19 states since Sheinbaum was sworn in as president last October.
The destruction of the labs means “less violence in the streets, fewer criminals affecting the tranquility of families, less harmful substances that place the health of our young people at risk and fewer resources for criminal organizations,” García Harfuch said.
Sheinbaum: Reduction in homicides due to new security strategy
Sheinbaum, whose government has demonstrated a greater willingness to proactively combat organized crime groups than the López Obrador administration, praised the Army, Navy and National Guard for the work they do every day to protect Mexican citizens.
She attributed the decline in homicides since she became president to the implementation of the new national security strategy.
“Attention to the causes [of crime], strengthening of the National Guard, strengthening of intelligence and investigation, and the coordination of all areas [of law enforcement]” have contributed to the decline in murder numbers, Sheinbaum said.
“Who carries out the [security] tasks everyday? Of course municipal and state police but in terms of federal forces it’s the National Guard, the soldiers — female soldiers as well — … and marines,” she said, adding that the security force members “are willing to give their lives to defend the lives of other Mexicans.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
