According to official data by Mexico’s Interior Ministry, 2,371 murder investigations opened last month, while 2017 is likely to surpass 2011 as the country’s most violent year—20,878 murders in the first 10 months—since the government began collecting this data in 1997, Reuters reported.
Furthermore, an average of 69 murders per day occurs in Mexico, overtaking the 2011 homicide rate by the end of this month. Six years ago, there was an average of 63 killings per day, according to Reuters.
The grim statistics show time and again that the war against Mexican drug cartels is failing. Though the arrest of notorious drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman had been heralded by President Enrique Peña Nieto as a victory over organized crime, he recently recognized that Mexico is rife with violence.
“Confrontation between members of different armed groups have really become an everyday scenario in many parts of the country,” Peña Nieto said during a national conference on security earlier this month.
Despite creating a strategy to embolden national security, he added that more progress is needed. “We have managed to have the best salaries for our officers,” Peña Nieto noted. “Security must remain our top priority to our country.”
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