HomeNewsBriefPerceptions of Insecurity in Mexico Rising Under Peña Nieto
BRIEF

Perceptions of Insecurity in Mexico Rising Under Peña Nieto

INFOGRAPHICS / 3 OCT 2013 BY CHARLES PARKINSON EN

A new poll says perceptions of insecurity rose more than 70 percent in the first months of Enrique Peña Nieto's presidency, suggesting the Mexico population are not buying in to his attempts to alter the public narrative on security issues.

According to the annual National Crime Victimization and Public Safety Perception Survey (Envipe) survey carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), 72.3 percent of Mexicans say they feel insecure, up from 66.6 percent in the year before. Over half of respondents -- 57.8 percent -- said that insecurity was their main concern.

The poll also examined perceptions of corruption in state institutions, which have fallen slightly across the board, but still remain high. The institution seen as most corrupt is the transit police, with 77.8 percent of respondents viewing them as corrupt, followed by the preventative municipal police, with 67.9 percent, and the prosecutors from the public ministry with 65 percent. While all branches of the police and judicial system scored over 50 percent, the military fared better, with just 22.1 percent believing the army is corrupt and just 14.8 percent the marines.

mexpercep

InSight Crime Analysis

Enrique Peña Nieto's security policies have been characterized not only by a shift in priorities and tactics but also by an attempt to change the public narrative on drug war violence. The militaristic rhetoric has been toned down, as have media spectacles such as the fanfare surrounding the capture of major narcos, which even no longer involve the previously inevitable perp walk. This tactic of down playing the drug war rather than hyping it up has been aimed squarely at public perceptions. 

However, these rhetorical shifts have not been matched by security improvements. While homicides have, according to government claims, been falling, crimes more likely to affect law-abiding citizens such as kidnapping and extortion have continued to rise rapidly. Until these crimes begin to fall, then as the poll confirms, it is unlikely Peña Nieto's PR campaigns will have a serious impact on public perceptions of insecurity.

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

DISPLACEMENT / 2 JUN 2023

Clashes between the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG in Chiapas, close to the Mexico-Guatemala border have displacee of thousands.

ELITES AND CRIME / 22 JUN 2023

Although President Giammattei cannot run in this year’s elections, his political party remains a dominant force.

EXTORTION / 30 MAR 2022

For restauranteurs in Mexico's coastal state of Quintana Roo, daily extortion fees are unavoidable. Competing cartels lean on the industry…

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…