🔗 Share this article Daily Murders in the nation Decline Thirty-Seven Percent During President Sheinbaum, According to Government Data The mean number of daily homicides each month in Mexico has fallen by more than a third since Head of State Claudia Sheinbaum began her term, according to new administrative figures. Nevertheless, public safety specialists have cautioned that murder data may not point to better national security. Notable Drop in Daily Figures There was an average of almost 55 murders a day in November as opposed to almost 87 when Sheinbaum began the presidential office in September of last year. This announcement was shared by the chief of the country’s national public security agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s daily news conference on a recent Tuesday. “The figures in killings that we’ve had during these months is remarkably notable,” the President stated, adding that in November the lowest amount of homicides were recorded for any November in the past 10 years. Historical Background and Official Strategy Intense drug cartel internal conflicts, coupled with the government’s heavily militarised operations to confront the trafficking organizations, have led to Mexico’s homicide numbers soar in the past few years. The rate hit a peak of 36,773 killings in 2020, according to the nation's national statistics agency. That resulted in Mexico a murder rate over 4x higher than that of the United States. From that point, murders have been on the downward trend, dropping to 33,550 the previous year. Sheinbaum has attributed her public safety strategy for an ostensibly steeper reduction in killings this year. At a news briefing in August, the head of state stated: “There is a plan, there is oversight of the strategy, and there is detailed tracking town by town in some cases. The approach is effective. And we have to persist at it every day.” The key components of Sheinbaum’s security strategy encompass: Bolstering Mexico’s federal guard. Advancing information gathering and investigative capabilities. Enhanced coordination between various agencies. Analyst Caution and Statistical Limitations Nevertheless, public safety analysts cautioned that relying on murder data to draw a conclusion of pacification was misleading. This is notably true in light of the uptick in different criminal activities such as people going missing. “This would be very good news if this were a drop, but I think we must not just concentrate on the homicide data and say: ‘Alright, good,’” stated Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an authority on Mexico's cartels. “I would be guardedly hopeful.” According to the public policy research organization Mexico Evalúa, murders in total dropped by over 20% in the initial 10 months of the current year compared with the identical period the previous year. However, disappearances have risen by 15% and in some states have increased by as much as 200%. “Numbers on homicides is not reliable for assessing the reality of public insecurity,” said Armando Vargas, a safety analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “First, we have law enforcement and prosecutors who do not have the ability or the inclination to correctly recognize and classify remains. Second, organized [criminals] … have the means to hide violent acts through disappearances.” Vargas noted that using month-to-month averages of daily killings was additionally an issue because it could mask periods when there were especially elevated numbers of murders. “Employing the per-day average renders high peaks of violent crime less visible,” he concluded. Arrests and Confiscations as Measures of Success An area where the administration can point to the success of its safety strategy is on arrests and seizures. Nearly 40,000 suspects were apprehended between October 2024 and November 2025 for high-impact offenses, per official figures. More than 20,000 weapons were taken and 311 tons of drugs seized. “The former US president can't claim President Sheinbaum of not acting, because in reality she is doing a lot with these many thousands of arrests, many thousands of seizures, and all the tactical degrading of organised crime. It’s extremely in political terms beneficial,” stated Vargas. Ongoing Unrest and Public Anger However despite these measures, Mexico is still beset by extreme violence, with several regions in the grip of cartel-driven violence. Last month there was a prominent killing of a well-liked mayor in the state of Michoacan, among 10 mayors killed in the past year. Weeks later, thousands of youth demonstrated in Mexico City and throughout the nation to voice their anger at graft and cartel violence. “The federal government frames [data] in a way to construct a story of safety. From a political standpoint it’s very effective, socially it’s highly debatable,” Vargas concluded.
The mean number of daily homicides each month in Mexico has fallen by more than a third since Head of State Claudia Sheinbaum began her term, according to new administrative figures. Nevertheless, public safety specialists have cautioned that murder data may not point to better national security. Notable Drop in Daily Figures There was an average of almost 55 murders a day in November as opposed to almost 87 when Sheinbaum began the presidential office in September of last year. This announcement was shared by the chief of the country’s national public security agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s daily news conference on a recent Tuesday. “The figures in killings that we’ve had during these months is remarkably notable,” the President stated, adding that in November the lowest amount of homicides were recorded for any November in the past 10 years. Historical Background and Official Strategy Intense drug cartel internal conflicts, coupled with the government’s heavily militarised operations to confront the trafficking organizations, have led to Mexico’s homicide numbers soar in the past few years. The rate hit a peak of 36,773 killings in 2020, according to the nation's national statistics agency. That resulted in Mexico a murder rate over 4x higher than that of the United States. From that point, murders have been on the downward trend, dropping to 33,550 the previous year. Sheinbaum has attributed her public safety strategy for an ostensibly steeper reduction in killings this year. At a news briefing in August, the head of state stated: “There is a plan, there is oversight of the strategy, and there is detailed tracking town by town in some cases. The approach is effective. And we have to persist at it every day.” The key components of Sheinbaum’s security strategy encompass: Bolstering Mexico’s federal guard. Advancing information gathering and investigative capabilities. Enhanced coordination between various agencies. Analyst Caution and Statistical Limitations Nevertheless, public safety analysts cautioned that relying on murder data to draw a conclusion of pacification was misleading. This is notably true in light of the uptick in different criminal activities such as people going missing. “This would be very good news if this were a drop, but I think we must not just concentrate on the homicide data and say: ‘Alright, good,’” stated Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an authority on Mexico's cartels. “I would be guardedly hopeful.” According to the public policy research organization Mexico Evalúa, murders in total dropped by over 20% in the initial 10 months of the current year compared with the identical period the previous year. However, disappearances have risen by 15% and in some states have increased by as much as 200%. “Numbers on homicides is not reliable for assessing the reality of public insecurity,” said Armando Vargas, a safety analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “First, we have law enforcement and prosecutors who do not have the ability or the inclination to correctly recognize and classify remains. Second, organized [criminals] … have the means to hide violent acts through disappearances.” Vargas noted that using month-to-month averages of daily killings was additionally an issue because it could mask periods when there were especially elevated numbers of murders. “Employing the per-day average renders high peaks of violent crime less visible,” he concluded. Arrests and Confiscations as Measures of Success An area where the administration can point to the success of its safety strategy is on arrests and seizures. Nearly 40,000 suspects were apprehended between October 2024 and November 2025 for high-impact offenses, per official figures. More than 20,000 weapons were taken and 311 tons of drugs seized. “The former US president can't claim President Sheinbaum of not acting, because in reality she is doing a lot with these many thousands of arrests, many thousands of seizures, and all the tactical degrading of organised crime. It’s extremely in political terms beneficial,” stated Vargas. Ongoing Unrest and Public Anger However despite these measures, Mexico is still beset by extreme violence, with several regions in the grip of cartel-driven violence. Last month there was a prominent killing of a well-liked mayor in the state of Michoacan, among 10 mayors killed in the past year. Weeks later, thousands of youth demonstrated in Mexico City and throughout the nation to voice their anger at graft and cartel violence. “The federal government frames [data] in a way to construct a story of safety. From a political standpoint it’s very effective, socially it’s highly debatable,” Vargas concluded.