Security was a central focus of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference.
Security officials presented the latest data on homicides, arrests, firearm seizures and drug confiscations across Mexico.
Later in the press conference, Sheinbaum spoke about her personal security arrangements, a week after she was inappropriately touched by a man in the historic center of Mexico City.
Homicides down almost 28% in 2025
Marcela Figueroa Franco, head of the National Public Security System, presented preliminary data that showed there was an average of 66.1 homicides per day in Mexico during the first ten months of the year.
The figure represents a decline of 27.9% compared to the daily average in 2024.
Figueroa highlighted that the decline in homicides compared to 2018 — when former president Enrique Peña Nieto was in office for the first 11 months of the year — was 34%.
32 fewer murders per day in October than in the final month of AMLO’s presidency
At the start of her presentation, Figueroa reported that the average daily homicide rate in October was 37% lower than the average rate in September 2024, the final month of Andres Manuel López Obrador’s presidency.
#Mañanera El promedio diario de homicidio doloso de forma mensual de septiembre 2025 a octubre 2025 presenta disminución del 37%, informó Marcela Figueroa. En 2025 se registraron 32 homicidios dolosos menos diarios que en 2024.https://t.co/ti8sAhL2nI
📹Especial pic.twitter.com/zYpwfoxwow— REFORMA (@Reforma) November 11, 2025
There was an average of 54.5 homicides per day last month, according to preliminary data, whereas the daily average was 86.9 in September 2024.
“In October 2025, 32 fewer homicides were recorded per day than in September 2024,” Figueroa said.
Sheinbaum has attributed the decline in homicides during her presidency to the federal government’s security strategy, based on four key tenets, including the strengthening of intelligence and investigative practices and the enhancement of coordination between the different levels of government.
1 in 9 murders in Mexico this year was committed in Guanajuato
Figueroa presented data that showed there were 20,096 homicides across Mexico in the first 10 months of the year.
Just over half of those murders — 10,265 or 51% of the total — occurred in just seven states:
- Guanajuato: 2,229 murders were committed in the Bajío region state between January and October. The figure accounts for 11.1% of all homicides in the period. Guanajuato has led Mexico in homicides in recent years. A number of organized crime groups operate in the state, including the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel and its main rival, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
- Chihuahua: 1,527 homicides, accounting for 7.6% of the total between January and October. The northern border state’s largest city, Ciudad Juárez, is among Mexico’s 50 most violent municipalities.
- Baja California: 1,465 homicides, accounting for 7.3% of the total. This state’s largest city, Tijuana, is also among Mexico’s 50 most violent municipalities.
- Sinaloa: 1,432 homicides, accounting for 7.1% of the total. Rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have been engaged in a bloody war in the state for over a year.
- México state: 1,328 homicides, accounting for 6.6% of the total.
- Guerrero: 1,152 homicides, accounting for 5.7% of the total.
- Michoacán: 1,132 homicides, accounting for 5.6% of the total. The federal government on Sunday presented “Plan Michoacán for Peace and Justice,” a 57-billion-peso (US $3.1 billion) initiative that the government devised in response to the murder of the mayor of Uruapan on Nov. 1 and general insecurity in the state.
Murders have declined in 26 of 32 states
Figueroa also reported that homicides declined in 26 of Mexico’s 32 federal entities between January and October compared to the same period of last year.
Zacatecas recorded the largest decrease, with murders declining 70.5%.
Three other states recorded year-over-year reductions above 50%. They were:
- Chiapas: -58.7%
- Quintana Roo: -57.3%
- Nuevo León: -56.3%.
Among the other states that recorded a decline in homicides between January and October were the two most violent ones. Murders fell 13.9% in Guanajuato and 10.7% in Chihuahua.
The six federal entities where homicides increased in annual terms in the first 10 months of the year were Sinaloa, Campeche, Veracruz, Baja California Sur, Hidalgo and Nayarit.
37,000 arrests in 13 months
Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch reported that 2,300 people were arrested in October for allegedly committing high-impact crimes, such as murder, kidnapping and extortion.
Since the current government took office on Oct. 1, 2024, a total of 37,000 people have been arrested for allegedly committing such crimes, he said.
The security minister didn’t say how many of those people have faced trial and been convicted of the crimes they allegedly committed. It is common for suspects in Mexico to remain in prison for extended periods of time before facing trial.
García Harfuch also reported that authorities have seized almost 300 tonnes of drugs over the past 13 months, including more than 4 million fentanyl pills, which are manufactured by Mexican crime groups with precursor chemicals illegally imported from China.
He said that 18,981 firearms were confiscated in the same period, and 614 methamphetamine laboratories were dismantled by the army and navy.
García Harfuch said that the arrests and seizures of drugs and weapons “have had a direct impact on the reduction of the crime rate, which is reflected in a 37% decrease in the daily homicide average between September 2024 and October 2025.”
Sheinbaum: ‘Nothing is going to happen to me’
A reporter noted that Sheinbaum was sexually harassed last week — three days after the mayor of Uruapan was killed — and subsequently asked the president what role the army and the federal Security Minister play in ensuring her safety.
“The team that accompanies me is not from the Security Cabinet,” Sheinbaum said, referring to a group of federal officials that includes her defense, navy, security and interior ministers.
“It’s a team from Ayudantía,” she said, referring to a group of presidential aides.
“When I leave Mexico City, I travel in a vehicle that doesn’t belong to the Security Cabinet, but rather to the president’s team. And sometimes a National Guard vehicle accompanies [me] at a distance, protecting us,” Sheinbaum said. “This is the protocol we follow.”
After the reporter put it to the president that the members of the Ayudantía don’t have security experience, Sheinbaum responded:
“Nothing is going to happen to me, nothing is going to happen to me. And we made a decision to be close to the people. If there are situations of risk, [there is] an alert … [from the] National Intelligence Center, which says: ‘The president may be at risk.’ … Then we protect ourselves a little more. That is … [the protocol] we follow.”
The president added:
“I always accept the recommendations from the security minister, the defense minister, the navy minister. Sometimes they ask me to have more security, but we don’t believe it’s necessary. Now, if there is an alert from the National Intelligence Center, if they have any concern, they obviously tell me and we seek greater protection or we don’t go to that place [where the risk has been identified]. … In other words, I’m attentive [to the warnings I receive]. There is no irresponsibility in this.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
