Mexico Registers 11,000 Homicides in 2019, Breaks New Record

The Mexican investigative agencies reported on Tuesday that in the first four months of 2019, the country  witnessed 11.221 violent deaths, making the January-April 2019 period the most violent of the last 20 years.

RELATED:
Mexico City Creates Specialized Attorney to Address Femicides

According to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), there was a rise of 709 homicides as compared with the same period last year, which accounted for 7,443 homicides in total.

The agency also estimated 294 femicides - including 54 shot dead and 57 stabbed across the country.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who assumed office in December, vowed to try a different approach to his predecessor, including the legalization of drug use.

Former President Enrique Pena Nieto presided over a 40 percent rise in murder investigations across his six-year mandate from his first full year in office in 2013.

Of Mexico’s 32 regions, the central state of Guanajuato registered the highest number of murder probes opened in 2018, at 3,290, more than three times as many murder probes as the 1,084 investigations opened in 2017.