Homicides for the increase in violence in Mexico
Why is violence worsening in Mexico?
The worsening of violence in Mexico in recent years reflects an increasingly volatile criminal panorama. A long -standing strategy of the Mexican government’s struggle against organized crime was to persecute the leaders, with the theory that cutting the head of a criminal group would wilt the body. But the tactic helped fragment monolithic criminal companies mainly focused on drug trafficking in a series of groups that are more violent and uncontrollable.
And as criminal organizations have been fragmented, they have also diversified their business models, diversifying in a broader range of criminal companies, such as extortion, kidnapping, prostitution, fuel theft and migrant smuggling. To make things worse, although in the past violence concentrated mainly in a few places, the recent increase in homicides has dispersed.
Although clashes between dissident groups are considered an important cause, government officials also point out other factors, including changes in political control of state and municipal governments in recent elections. As the old political power structures give way to new ones, cooperation between corrupt officials and criminal groups falls apart, which stimulates violent struggles for new cooperation agreements.
The solution to this spiral of violence has been, at least, difficult to find. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said that he will focus his strategy to fight the crime in addressing the problem from his roots, investing in social development programs and initiatives that relieve poverty. But this approach could take years to work, if it works.
The situation varies dramatically throughout the country. Violent drug posters are more active along much of the border with the United States and along the Pacific coast. Last year, a quarter of all murders in the country concentrated in five cities: Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez on the border with the United States, and Cancun, Acapulco and Culiacán. Even in the case of Cancun, the tourist areas are quite isolated from the city’s violence.
Although crime is increasing in Mexico City, daily life is quite safe, as long as some precautions are taken. Some parts of the country, such as Mérida, the capital of the state of Yucatan, are considered as safe as Europe. That said, the situation in Mexico is fluid.
Does the increase in violence have to do with the increase in migrants waiting in Mexico to come to the United States?
Not really. The increase in violence occurs throughout the country. That said, the defenders of the migrants have reported an increase in the crimes committed against migrants who have been forced to wait in increasing numbers on the Mexican side of the border to have the opportunity to request American asylum. And the struggles between rival criminal groups for the control of the lucrative contraband routes of migrants have led to some violence. However, these dynamics would represent only a small percentage of the general violence that ravages the country.
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