Title: Criminal Violence in Mexico | Global Conflict Tracker
Headings: Criminal Violence in Mexico
Criminal Violence in Mexico
68.5 MILLION
MORE THAN 200
150,000
Recent Developments
Background
Concerns
Alerts
UN Reports Spike in Migrant Children Transiting Mexico
Mexico Detains Thirty Soldiers for Alleged Role in Disappearances
Gunmen Kill Thirteen Police Officers Near Mexico City
Mexico Nears Marijuana Legalization
Wife of Mexican Cartel Leader Arrested in U.S.
Mexican Police Detained Over Migrant Massacre
Mexico’s Homicide Rate Remained High in 2020
Mexico Won’t Prosecute Former Defense Minister Arrested in U.S.
Report: Mexico Deadliest Country in the World for Journalists
Mexico Restricts Foreign Agents Despite U.S. Criticism
Mexico Becomes Fourth Country to See One Hundred Thousand COVID-19 Deaths
U.S. Drops Drug Charges Against Former Mexican Defense Minister
Mexican Complains About Arrest of Former Defense Minister in United States
Mexico Requests Evidence Against Former Defense Minister
Former Mexican Defense Minister Arrested on Drug Charges in United States
Cartel Leader Captured in Mexico
Mexico’s Former Security Minister Charged With Cartel Connections
Report: Unidentified Bodies Increase Amid Mexico’s Drug War
Mexico Confirms Murder of Second Journalist in a Week
Mexico Arrests Cartel Leader
Mexico City Police Chief Wounded After Assassination Attempt
Mexican Cartel Delivers Aid to Communities During Pandemic
Gang Clashes in Mexico Continue Amid Pandemic
Gang Clash in Northern Mexico Kills Nineteen
United States Sanctions Cartel-linked Businesses in Mexico
Mexico Increases Cartel Extraditions to the United States
Nine Killed in Gang Violence in Western Mexico
Sixty Thousand Disappeared in Mexico Since 2006
Former Mexican Security Chief Arrested on Drug Charges
Trump Suspends Terrorist Designation for Mexican Cartels
Mexico, U.S. Talk Cartels
Nearly Twenty Killed in Gunfight Near U.S.-Mexico Border
U.S., Mexico Decry Killing of Americans
Nine Americans Killed in Mexico
Mexican City Besieged After El Chapo’s Son Arrested
Ambush Kills Fourteen Police in Mexico
Twenty-Five People Killed in Attack in Mexico
Vigilante Violence Rises in Mexico
Murders in Mexico Still on the Rise
Mexican Cartel Leader El Chapo Handed Life Sentence
Mexico’s AMLO: Government is ‘Stabilizing’ Crime
Homicides Increase in Mexico
Cartel Trafficker Testifies About Bribe to Former Mexican President
Mexico’s AMLO Orders Truth Commission
Mexico’s New President Announces Security Plan
Mass Grave Found in Mexico’s Veracruz State
Mexico’s President-Elect Will Consider Legalizing Some Drugs
Authorities Disarm Mexico’s Acapulco Police Force
Mexican Congresswoman Kidnapped in Central Hidalgo State
Former Mexico City Mayor Wins Presidential Election
Mexican Police Detained After Candidate’s Murder
Second Mayoral Candidate Killed in Twenty-Four Hours in Mexico
Arizona Sends Troops to Southern Border
Trump to Send National Guard to Mexico Border
Los Zetas Drug Cartel Faction Leader Captured
Mexico's Homicide Total Hits New Record
Mexicans Reject Amnesty for Gangs, Poll Shows
Mexico Arrests Cartel Leader Accused of Migrant Massacre
Migrant Deaths at U.S.-Mexico Border Up 17 Percent
United States Officials Find Marijuana in Ford Cars Imported to U.S. from Mexico
At Least Fourteen Killed in Gunfight Between Gangs in Chihuahua
Body of Local Reporter Found in Michoacán
Mexico’s Murder Rate Hits Record High
U.S. Arrests Dozens of Suspected MS-13 Gang Members
Mexican Journalist Killed in Sinaloa
Activist Kidnapped and Killed in Mexico
Fugitive Mexican Governor Arrested in Guatemala
Homeland Security: U.S. Illegal Border Crossings Drop
Two Killed, Hundreds Arrested in Mexico Protests
Authorities Kill Fourteen Gunmen
Nine Bodies Discovered in Southwest Mexico
Former Police Chief Arrested for Organized Crime and Kidnapping
Homicide Rate Is Rising in Mexico
Two Priests Killed in Mexico
Kidnapped Son of Drug Lord "El Chapo"
Assailants Abduct Men From Mexican Resort
Over One Hundred Murders in Three Days Across Mexico
Report: Torture, Sexual Violence Against Women Routine by Mexican Security Forces
A Visual Exploration of the Conflict
Criminal Violence in Mexico
Criminal Violence in Mexico
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Content: Background
In the 1980s, Mexico’s crime groups and drug traffickers became organized, assigning distinct regional areas of control for each group and establishing networks and trafficking routes. However, as production and distribution increased, the groups began fighting for territorial control and access to markets, leading to an increase in violence across Mexico. The Mexican government officially declared war on criminal organizations in 2006, when former President Felipe Calderon launched an initiative to combat cartels using military force. In 2012, President Enrique Peña Nieto revised the Calderon government’s strategy, shifting efforts away from violent exchanges and toward improving law enforcement capacity and supporting public safety. However, after the Sinaloa Cartel’s Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested in 2014, re-arrested in 2016, and finally extradited to the United States in 2017, a power vacuum was created within the Sinaloa Cartel, resulting in an accompanying increase in violence between rival factions seeking new territory and influence. Moreover, despite an initial decrease in homicides following Peña Nieto’s reforms, Mexico continued to struggle with corruption and crime-related violence. By 2016, drug-related homicides had increased by 22 percent, with more than twenty thousand killed, and in 2017 a mass grave containing the remains of more than 250 victims of crime-related violence was uncovered in Veracruz State. Since 2006, crime-related violence has resulted in an estimated 150,000 deaths. Recognizing widespread assertions that the use of military force has only increased the level of crime-related violence in Mexico—and accusations that the military has committed human rights abuses and carried out extrajudicial killings —then–presidential candidate AMLO promised on his campaign trail to revolutionize the fight against cartels and revert to a civilian-led police force. Concerns
In 2007, the George W. Bush administration and Calderon government launched the Merida Initiative to improve U.S.-Mexico cooperation on security and rule of law issues in Mexico, and support for the initiative has continued under the Donald J. Trump administration.