XALAPA, Mexico Homicides in Mexico rose 9.7% in the first quarter of 2019 from a year earlier, reaching 8,493 killings in the first three months of the year, the most on record for the period, according to figures released Monday by the nations Security Department.
XALAPA, Mexico — Homicides in Mexico rose 9.7% in the first quarter of 2019 from a year earlier, reaching 8,493 killings in the first three months of the year, the most on record for the period, according to figures released Monday by the nation’s Security Department.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office Dec. 1 promising to reduce violence, but killings have grown during his four months in office.
López Obrador wants to reduce violence through social programs and a new militarized police force known as the National Guard. He says effects should be felt in about six months.
López Obrador said Monday that Mexico is “starting to stabilize, so that violence won’t continue to grow at the same rate.” But, he added, “it’s going to take some time.”
The rate at which homicides are increasing did appear to slow somewhat in March. Homicides were up 11% in January and 16% in February from the previous year, but rose only 2.7% in March.
López Obrador spoke in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, where the slayings of 13 people at a party Friday shocked the country. Veracruz state prosecutor Jorge Winckler said Monday that the killings appeared to be an act of revenge in a dispute between two criminal groups.
The violence also has reached parts of Mexico that were traditionally more peaceful, like the north-central state of Guanajuato, which has been ravaged by killings by fuel theft gangs and the brutal Jalisco cartel. Homicides in Guanajuato rose 28% in the first quarter, to reach 947.
