A coroner walks down the street where the bodies of several people were abandoned in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, February 5, 2022. STRINGER (Portal)
Violence is rampant during the presidency of Morenista Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Although official discourse attempts to show a decrease in homicides and kidnappings, the latest Human Rights Watch (HRW) report shows that violent crimes have “reached an historic peak” during this administration and impunity remains high at just under 1% . of the solved cases. “Violent crime rates have suffered a dramatic increase in Mexico, reaching historic levels under the current administration,” warns HRW in its 2023 report released this Thursday. “Although the authorities often attribute this violence to criminal cartels, most crimes go uninvestigated and those responsible are never identified or prosecuted,” the human rights organization said.
Reducing violence is one of the issues the chief executive has insisted on most since he took office in late 2018. López Obrador presents official reports showing a significant drop in crime, mostly related to murders, the president says, an example of the success of his “hugs and no bullets” policy. Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, Secretary of State for Security, appeared at López Obrador’s morning press conference on December 20 to confirm that crime in Mexico had fallen by 30%. Mejía Berdeja also affirmed that homicides are declining, with “a very relevant decrease” in November, the month when there were “fewer premeditated homicides in the last six years”.
According to statistics provided by the official, in November authorities registered 23.5 fewer victims than the country’s historical maximum of premeditated homicides, which was in July 2018. “In a comparison of January-November 2022, based on the same period from 2018 to 2021, corresponding data is available. There were 28,469 victims of premeditated homicide, a decrease of less than 7.3% compared to the same period in 2021; less than 10.8% compared to the same period in 2020; less than 10.6% compared to the same months of 2019 and less than 7.7% compared to 2018. In terms of average daily premeditated homicides, there is a decrease to 85, compared to 95 in 2019, which 10 fewer homicides per day means,” Mejía Berdeja said.
Despite this decline, figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) show that the country remains stagnant at high levels of violence. The Inegi has reported that Mexico recorded 35,625 homicides in 2021, a similar number to 2020, and although the homicide rate has fallen from 29 to 28 per 100,000 people, violence in the country continues unbridled. Last March alone – a very bloody month – there were more than 3,600 homicides, showing just how consumed Mexico is by violence. Nevertheless, the President praises his security policy. “The rest of the crimes we’re going down and what took us the most work was getting the homicides down because the trend was up, they left us that legacy – like others – but we’re already so attached to that crime exposed It does harm and causes a lot of pain to people,” López Obrador said in July.
However, the HRW report denounces that government security policies have not only failed to stem the violence, but can also lead to serious human rights violations. “Police, prosecutors and soldiers routinely use torture to extract confessions and other ill-treatment from people accused of crimes. The judicial system usually does not provide due process guarantees,” warns the agency, which has criticized the ongoing militarization of security over the current six-year term. “It is common for police, prosecutors and soldiers to use torture to obtain information and confessions. In the most recent survey of detainees by the official statistical office in July 2021, almost half of those questioned stated that they had been physically abused by the police or soldiers after being arrested. Of those who confessed to a crime, 38% said they only did so because the authorities had beaten or threatened them,” HRW said.
To the dismay of the still high murder rates hitting Mexicans, the statistics add a high number of disappeared, the other nightmare hits the country: At least 105,000 people are reported missing in Mexico according to official statistics. “Authorities believe the actual number would be higher. Almost 90,000 have disappeared since the “war” on organized crime began in 2006. Thousands of people continue to disappear every year. More than 36,000 people have disappeared since López Obrador took office,” warns HRW.
The agency makes a grotesque complaint: “Authorities believe many of the missing persons were buried in mass graves by state or local officials after forensic services declared them ‘unidentified’ or ‘unclaimed.'” According to the report, between At least 50,000 bodies not properly identified by authorities in 2006 and 2020. “It is possible that other people were killed and buried in hidden graves by police, military and criminal groups. Between 2006 and 2021, the authorities found at least 4,000 of these graves in the country,” reports the human rights organization.
In this context of violence bleeding Mexico, activists and journalists become the targets of excessive cruelty. Human Rights Watch’s report recalls that the country is one of the most dangerous in the world for journalists and human rights defenders, “especially those who criticize officials or expose the work of criminal cartels.” Last year, 15 journalists were killed in the country between January and September. HRW reports that Article 19, an organization that keeps journalists safe, registered at least 331 threats, attacks and other forms of aggression against journalists in the first half of 2022, leading many reporters to choose self-censorship. “Authorities often do not adequately investigate crimes against journalists,” warns Human Rights Watch.
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