Homicides are up 1.5% in Mexico with 23 thousand 471 cases from January to August: National Stastistic Institute

THE BAJA POST
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PHOTO: https://elpais.com/internacional/2017/06/22/mexico/1498096407_446739.html

Monthly police reports for 2020 show that homicides were up 1.5% in the first eight months of this year from a year earlier, between January and August there have been 23 thousand 471 murders, although the numbers have been overshadowed by more than 74 thousand  deaths of people infected with the coronavirus

Mexico registered 209 fewer homicides in 2019 than a year earlier, the first decline in five years, though the murder rate remained at its highest level in decades, the National Statistics Institute said Wednesday September 23.

The country registered 36,476 homicides last year, down from 36,685 in 2018, according to preliminary data based on death certificates. The homicide rate was unchanged from 2018 at 29 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest level on records stretching back 30 years.

“The important thing is that the government doesn’t rest on its laurels by saying we’ve slowed the rise in homicides,” said Cassius Wilkinson, a security analyst at political-risk consultancy Empra. “A plateau at historic highs still isn’t good for Mexico’s public security.”