HomeNewsBriefMexico: Organized Crime Killings Up 16% in 2011
BRIEF

Mexico: Organized Crime Killings Up 16% in 2011

MEXICO / 4 JUL 2011 BY RONAN GRAHAM EN

The number of killings related to organized crime in Mexico was 16 percent higher in the first half of 2011 than in the same period the previous year, according to a local newspaper.

On Saturday, Mexican daily La Reforma published a report which said that there had been 6,641 organized crime fatalities in the first six months of the year.

Although the numbers are high, the problem seems to be relatively contained, with 85 percent of the cases occurring in just 10 states.

The report recorded an increase in deaths related to organized crime for 21 of Mexico’s 32 states. Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon, which border on the U.S., recorded the largest number of killings.

With violence on the rise in Mexico, President Felipe Calderon's strategy to combat organized crime will be further called into question.

According to the report’s data, the death toll since 2006, the year in which President Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels, now stands at close to 40,000.

As InSight Crime has reported, Calderon's aggressive pursuit of drug cartels is commonly thought to have increased violence in many parts of the country.

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.

Tags

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

COCAINE / 17 JAN 2023

The trial of Mexico’s former top public security official will reveal shortcomings in the fight against organized crime.

EL MENCHO / 18 NOV 2021

The arrest of the wife of CJNG boss El Mencho is being interpreted as a win against the cartel and…

HUMAN RIGHTS / 30 AUG 2023

Human trafficking is prevalent and pervasive in Ciudad Juárez, and relies on either direct state participation, malpractice, or indifference.

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…