Mexico: May 2017 most violent month in two decades

Mexican authorities registered 2186 murders nationwide during the month of May 2017, marking it as the most violent month since records began in 1997. The National Public Security System (SESNSP) also reported 100 cases of kidnapping, 522 of extortion, 5208 of carjacking, and 10,368 of non-violent car theft.

Context

Violence in parts of Mexico is spiraling out of control as cartels adopt increasingly militarized tactics, and fierce turf wars between competing and increasingly fragmented cartels are on the rise. The deterioration of security conditions in Mexico sheds light on the failure of the state's security policies. The government's war on drugs has spanned a decade and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Between 2006 and 2012, around 120,000 people were killed in cartel-related violence across Mexico, excluding disappearances.

Violence is poised to continue as long as the structural causes of insecurity - such as institutional weakness, corrupt and deficient security forces, poor public services, and a political establishment susceptible to bribes - are not effectively dealt with.

Advice

Individuals are advised to remain vigilant at all times.

Due to extreme levels of violence linked to the presence of various armed groups, many Western governments advise against travel to a large portion of Mexican territory, including Guerrero, Colima, Sinaloa, Michoacán, and Tamaulipas states and the northeastern border with the United States, as well as to a lesser extent Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit, Nuevo León, and Sonora states.