Although the violence and the intentional homicides in Mexico they had maintained a rebound throughout 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, towards the end of this year murders have registered a marginal drop of 0.4%, so the Mexican government assures it.
During his participation in the last morning conference this year at the National Palace, the Undersecretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Ricardo Mejía, highlighted that the Government of Mexico plans to close the year with a 0.4% drop in the number of intentional homicide victims, but with a 0.3% increase in femicides.
“Containment is achieved and for this year we are already estimating, for the first time since 2014, a decrease in homicides in the country”, he pointed.
Based on data from the SSPC, there would be 34,523 homicide victims in 2020 compared to 34,648 in 2019, when Mexico had the most violent year in its history with a record number of murders.
This means, said Ricardo Mejía, a 1.3% decrease in the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants, which would close at an index of 27.01 compared to 27.37 last year.
However, the undersecretary recognized a 0.3% growth in femicides, which is the murder of women for reasons of sexist or gender violence.
Although he did not specify the absolute figure, this would imply a total of 1,015 women killed by femicide, compared to 1,012 in 2019.
“This also has to do with the fact that the gender approach has been gaining ground in ministerial actions, that is, in the investigation files of any violent homicide of women there is already healthy pressure from women’s groups because they are considered femicides”, argument.
Although Mexico was on track to break the 2019 record, Mejía said that in November and December there were annual declines in homicide victims.
The Undersecretary of Security also reported a 21% decrease in the total number of robberies, without specifying the figure, in addition to a 38.5% drop in kidnappings.
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“This, I emphasize, comes from before the pandemic because there are those who have said that this has nothing to do with the issue of the pandemic. No, it is a marked trend since the beginning of the administration, ”said Mejía.
It must be remembered that reducing violence is one of the main promises of the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“We are still missing many things, but there have been very significant advances,” said the president on Thursday.
For its part, the new secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez Velázquez, led the presentation of the last report on the matter of this 2020, a moment that he took the opportunity to remember his work in different dependencies and levels of government, where he addressed the issue of security.
“I’m not new to this”, he assured.
The official emphasized that she will adhere to the guidelines set forth by the Mexican president regarding national security. In this sense, he adhered to “attending to the root causes that generate crime and maintaining solid coverage of the Mexican government’s welfare policy.”
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“I’m not new to this”: Rosa Icela Rodríguez presents the latest 2020 security report