• HOMICIDES: The number of homicides in Mexico remained high during May despite lockdown orders across the country forced by the coronavirus health emergency, new Mexican government data shows. Murders in Mexico totaled 2,913 in May, just below the 2,926 recorded in April.
• PLATEAU: Mexico’s monthly murder count has seen no sign of respite despite President Andrés Manuel López Obrador taking office in December 2018 with homicides reaching a peak of 3,029 in March. Still, the López Obrador administration claims to have bee able to contain violent crime.
• CONTAINMENT: “This is what we call the line of containment that we have preserved since December with slight downward and then upward trends”, said Alfonso Durazo, Mexico’s Minister of Security. Still, last May’s homicide count is very similar to the 2,903 recorded in May 2019.
• STATES: The central state of Guanajuato remains at the top of Mexico’s 32 states when ranked by the number of murders recorded during the first five months of 2020 with a total of 1,903. Known for its powerful manufacturing sector, Guanajuato is also seat of a violent drug gang war since 2018.
