Mexico: Veracruz government to declare crisis in December

Event

The governor-elect of Veracruz Cuitláhuac García Jiménez has indicated he will declare a humanitarian crisis in the state shortly after his inauguration on Saturday, December 1, citing increased insecurity and government corruption. President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known colloquially as AMLO, will travel to Veracruz city on December 2 to signal the federal government's support for the move and to make a plea to the UN for humanitarian assistance. The incoming government is seeking increased funding to combat organized crime, to finance missing persons investigations, and to broaden recovery and identification efforts for those killed in the violence.

Context

The former governor of Veracruz was sentenced to nine years in prison in September for embezzling as much as USD 16.7 million from the state during 2017. According to rights groups, the local government has recorded 15,000 missing persons cases to date, although it has only opened an investigation in roughly 3600 cases.

Mexico continues to suffer from high crime rates. Much of the violence is driven by narco-trafficking. Clashes between narco-gangs and government forces are at the highest levels since former President Felipe Calderon's war against narco-trafficking (2008 to 2011). The capture and extradition of Joaquin Guzmán (El Chapo), the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, has led rival groups to attempt to take advantage of the power vacuum and establish stronger criminal networks.

Advice

Due to extreme levels of violence linked to the presence of various armed groups, some Western governments advise against travel to a large portion of Mexican territory, including Guerrero, Michoacán, and Tamaulipas states, the northeastern border with the US, and, to a lesser extent, Baja California, Chihuahua, Colima, Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, and Veracruz states.