Veracruz
Alarmantes cifras de violencia, con Veracruz en el epicentro. Foto: Instituto de Ciencias Forenses de la Ciudad de México.

Mexico is facing an unprecedented escalation of violence, with 31,693 homicides in ten months. At the epicenter of this crisis is Veracruz, where 66,636 crimes between January and October reveal a critical situation. Femicides, sexual abuses, and political violence add to the challenge, demanding immediate responses to halt this alarming reality.

By Yamiri Rodríguez Madrid

Journalist FORO HUMANOS

Mexico

The figure alone is chilling and alarming. Mexico in ten months reports 31,693 homicides, according to data provided by the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System; This, in a slightly more grounded panorama, shows that, on average, 105 people are murdered daily in this country; four every hour; one every 25 minutes. Today there are more deaths in 10 months than when they faced the American intervention (1846-1848), with a death toll of 25 thousand.

But the bad news doesn’t stop there. In the same period of 2023, there have been 625 femicides, 27,783 complaints of sexual abuse, 336 kidnappings, plus 704,924 robberies, ranging from assault on the sidewalk to home robbery, motorcycle, car and cargo transportation. The chronometer of violence indicates that every two days a Mexican woman is murdered for the simple fact of being a woman and that every three hours one is raped. Every day a Mexican is deprived of his freedom to collect a ransom; and in a range of 60 minutes, 97 citizens had part of their property stolen.

Figures at the national level

However, not all regions of the country have the same levels of violence. While the state of Yucatán has 27 intentional homicides from January to October, there are others in which these cases are skyrocketing. An example is Veracruz.

Located in the Gulf of Mexico, in the southeast of the country, it is one of the most populated regions of Mexico with more than 8 million inhabitants. Its territory has mountains, jungles, dunes and more than a thousand kilometers of coastline; It was the port of entry for the conquest of Mexico and it has continued to be, since then, the entry point for all types of merchandise.

The situation in Veracruz

The situation in Veracruz, in terms of crime figures, is like this: according to the National Public Security System, between January and October 2023, 66,636 crimes occurred, of which 1,368 are homicides; 40 femicides, 867 cases of sexual abuse, 21 kidnappings, and 26,587 crimes against people’s property.

In this alone part of Mexican territory, four Veracruz residents have been murdered on average every day this year; Almost every two weeks there is a femicide and two rapes a day.

Protestas
Protest for Yarazeth Zepeta, a nurse murdered in Veracruz.

Comparison and additional statistics

In comparison among the 32 Mexican states, Veracruz is in the first national places in crime incidence. But the University Observatory of Violence against Women, of the Universidad Veracruzana (UV), the most important university in the entity, reports that this year they have documented 51 femicides, 64 homicides of women, 683 disappearances and 313 attacks.

To these numbers are added the statistics of the organization Causa en Común, which reports that the entity is in ninth place nationally with 196 atrocities that occurred during the first nine months of 2023. That is, practically every week there is a multiple execution or a feminicide or an extremely bloody crime. 

The first place is occupied by Chihuahua, a state in the north of the country, with 442; Veracruz, along with the State of Mexico, have 191 atrocities each. 40 murders of women with extreme cruelty, 20 massacres and at least 10 acts of violence against migrants.

Colectiva de Mujeres
In Xalapa, the Women’s Collective carried out the «Embroidery 25N» in memory of femicide victims, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Massacres and political crime exacerbate the crisis

Precisely, on the issue of massacres, 2023 started in Veracruz with a death toll of 10 when, on January 1, there was an attack on bars and cantinas in the municipality of Poza Rica. On January 22, a multiple execution in the Port of Veracruz left 6 dead, two of them minors, a few meters from the Heriberto Jara Corona International Airport. One of the most disastrous events was the discovery of 17 dismembered and frozen bodies on August 13, also in Poza Rica, due to an alleged adjustment between cartels, as reported at the time by the state governor, Cuitláhuac García Jiménez.

Added to this violence are the executions of politicians and former candidates, with which the state also occupies the first national places and worsens in each electoral process. Precisely today Mexico is immersed in one, since in 2024 the Presidency of the Republic, 9 governorships – among them that of Veracruz – will be renewed, in addition to the Congress of the Union, so the alerts go off.

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