Five of top six most violent cities in the world are in Mexico, report says
- Drug gangs blamed for Mexico’s violence, while government admits only 7 per cent of crimes are properly investigated and only 2 per cent lead to convictions
Tijuana was the most violent city in the world in 2018, according a new report by a Mexican charity that ranked cities based on their murder rates.
The report by the Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice found that five out of six of the world’s most violent municipalities were in Mexico, where murders have risen to historic levels in recent years amid a military-led war against criminal groups.
In Tijuana, where local gangs have been battling over a lucrative domestic drug market, the report tallied 138 killings per 100,000 residents last year, or about seven killings on average per day. The Mexican resort city of Acapulco was in second place, with 111 killings per 100,000 people.
Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, which has been beset by crime and food shortages amid the country’s ongoing political crisis, was in third place with 100 killings per 100,000 people.
The fourth and fifth most violent cities were two Mexican border cities: Ciudad Victoria, in the state of Tamaulipas, and Ciudad Juarez, in the state of Chihuahua. Irapuato, a city in the state of Guanajuato that has been the site of fierce battles over control of stolen petrol, is sixth on the list.
There were 15 Mexican cities on the list of 50, more than any other country in the world.
The report paints a picture of a nation in crisis, and calls into question the efficacy of Mexico’s militaristic approach to fighting crime.
Since 2006, when president at the time Felipe Calderon declared war on the country’s drug traffickers, a combination of soldiers, marines and federal police have taken to the streets to break up powerful cartels. While the so-called kingpin strategy was successful in weakening some groups, it also unwittingly spawned new ones who sought to capitalise on the disruption.