HomeNewsBriefMexico Govt Counts 6 Kidnappings a Day in Last Half of 2011
BRIEF

Mexico Govt Counts 6 Kidnappings a Day in Last Half of 2011

KIDNAPPING / 17 FEB 2012 BY JAKE HARPER EN

The Mexican government reported an average of six kidnappings a day in the second half of 2011, up more than 23 percent compared to the same period in 2010.

As Excelsior reports, from July to December Mexico registered 1,239 reported kidnappings, though the rate dropped ten percent in the last three months, according to officials. While five states were able to reduce the number of kidnappings, there were nine states in which abductions increased.

Of the 32 states, only 18 have met the objective of creating specialized units to combat kidnapping, according to the article.

InSight Crime Analysis

The official kidnapping figures are contested by NGO the Council for Law and Human Rights (CLDH), which claims Mexico experienced 49 daily abductions in 2011. This was an increase of 32 percent compared to last year, according to the NGO's count. Neither the government nor the CLDH figures include express kidnappings, which may occur hundreds of times a day. The organization also reports that in 2011 only ten percent of kidnappings were reported.

Mexico has seen a sharp rise in kidnapping recently, by as much 317 percent in the last five years, pointing to how criminal organizations are increasingly diversifying their activities outside of trafficking drugs. The practice has also seen new variations, in the forms of express kidnapping, virtual kidnapping, and mass kidnapping.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CHAPITOS / 18 AUG 2022

Mexico saw outbreaks of violence last week in three different states. What can these events tell us about the country's…

BRAZIL / 7 OCT 2022

Latin America's environmental and land protectors are routinely murdered by the regions criminals.

COCAINE / 3 AUG 2023

A new book by journalist Deborah Bonello examines the roles women play in organized crime and argues that their participation…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…