MEXICO CITY.- Last Sunday Mexico lived the most violent day of the year, with 117 homicides registered in 24 hours, according to data from the daily report of the National Security Commission (CNS). This is a figure that has been increasing in recent weeks despite the quarantine in the country to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
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Until yesterday, the most violent day of the year had been April 20, with 114 homicides.
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The highest number of homicides occurred this Sunday in two states: the northern Chihuahua and the central State of Mexico, with 11 each. Guanajuato followed, with 10, and Baja California, Michoacán and Tabasco, with nine each. Only six states did not report any homicide, including Aguascalientes and Baja California Sur.
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The figures of the entrenched violence in Mexico have not stopped even during the most rigorous containment measures imposed since the end of February when the pandemic struck.
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That month, Mexico recorded 3,000 murders, the most violent since December 2018 when he assumed the presidency. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, according to data provided by the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP).
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“We are concentrating (crime) on five entities in the country, above all that has to do with homicides and one of them is Guanajuato,” acknowledged AMLO, the acronym with which he is known, at his morning press conference. this Monday.
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Although the Government boasted a monthly reduction of 1.66% in the homicide registry in April, with 2,950, the organization Semáforo Delictivo recalled that March has one more day, so The daily average in April was 98.33 homicides, above the 96.77 in March.
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That average, in addition, is increasing so far in June. Mexico accumulates 565 homicides this month, which represents a daily average of 80.7, which already exceeds the average of May 78.2, according to the National Security Commission.
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Mexico registered for the third consecutive time its most violent year in 2019, with a total of 34,608 intentional homicides and 1,012 feminicides that outraged the country.
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A violence linked to organized crime
The number of homicides registered in the country has remained at its high levels during the pandemic, despite the fact that other crimes have been reduced.
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Mexico began implementing phase 1 of the health emergency due to covid-19 on February 28, after registering the first confirmed case. Phase 2 and the tightening of the measures were announced on March 24, and phase 3, which is currently in force, was ordered on April 21.
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The measures led to a notable decrease in mobility, the suspension of classes and non-essential activities, as well as the closure of most of the establishments.
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This situation caused that the denunciations of most of the crimes underwent an unprecedented reduction in April, reaching their lowest levels in 16 years. However, the crime of homicidal violence continued to rise.
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Experts on public and national security issues have pointed out to various local media outlets that one of the reasons this crime continues to rise is because of violence is linked to organized crime, criminal activity that moves outside of any citizen demobilization. So, according to estimates by the Mexican government, at least 6 out of 10 murders would be related to organized crime.
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In late April, López Obrador sent a message to drug trafficking leaders: “Drop him, drop him, and think of your families, of yourselves.” “We are dealing with the coronavirus but unfortunately we continue to have problems with homicides. Not even because this situation exists, they have calmed down,” he added.
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So far, the covid-19 has killed 13,699 people in Mexico and infected 117,103.
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