Daily Murders in the nation Decline Thirty-Seven Percent In the Sheinbaum Administration, Per Government Data
The typical number of everyday murders per month in the country has decreased by thirty-seven percent since Head of State Claudia Sheinbaum assumed power, according to recent administrative figures. Nevertheless, security specialists have advised that homicide data may not indicate better countrywide safety.
Notable Decline in Per-Day Figures
Officials reported an average of nearly 55 homicides a day in November compared with roughly 87 when Claudia Sheinbaum assumed the presidency in September of last year. This information was shared by the director of the country’s federal public security agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s daily press briefing on a recent Tuesday.
“The result in murders that we’ve had over these months is very significant,” Sheinbaum remarked, noting that last month the lowest amount of homicides were recorded for any November in the past decade.
Recent Context and Official Plan
Intense organized crime internal conflicts, alongside the government’s heavily militarised efforts to combat the trafficking organizations, have caused Mexico’s murder rate escalate in recent times. The rate reached a maximum of 36,773 killings in 2020, per the nation's national statistics office.
That resulted in Mexico a murder rate more than four times higher than the US. Since then, killings have been on the downward trend, falling to 33,550 the previous year. Claudia Sheinbaum has attributed her public safety plan for an ostensibly steeper drop in homicides in the current year.
At a news briefing in August, the Mexican leader stated: “There is a strategy, there is monitoring of the plan, and there is specific monitoring municipality by municipality in some cases. The strategy is effective. And we have to keep working at it each day.”
The main pillars of Sheinbaum’s safety plan encompass:
- Bolstering Mexico’s domestic security force.
- Enhancing intelligence and investigation work.
- Enhanced coordination between government departments.
Expert Caution and Statistical Limitations
But, security analysts urged caution that relying on homicide numbers to assess the situation of pacification was flawed. This is notably true in light of the increase in different crimes such as forced disappearances.
“It would be excellent news if this was a drop, but I think we shouldn't just concentrate on the murder data and say: ‘Alright, excellent,’” stated Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an authority on Mexico's cartels. “I would be tentatively positive.”
Per the public policy research organization Mexico Evalúa, murders overall dropped by more than 20% in the initial 10 months of the current year relative to the same period last year. But, disappearances have gone up by 15% and in certain regions have risen by up to 200%.
“Numbers on murders is no longer valid for assessing the situation of insecurity,” argued Armando Vargas, a safety analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “First, we have law enforcement and investigators who lack the ability or the will to accurately recognize and classify corpses. Secondly, organized [criminals] … have the capability to conceal violence through disappearances.”
Vargas pointed out that using month-to-month means of everyday killings was additionally concerning because it could obscure periods when there were particularly elevated numbers of killings.
“Employing the per-day mean makes spikes of violence invisible,” he concluded.
Detentions and Seizures as Measures of Success
An area where the government can cite the success of its security strategy is on detentions and seizures. Almost 40,000 suspects were apprehended between last October and November 2025 for serious crimes, per official figures. More than 20,000 guns were confiscated and 311 tons of drugs seized.
“Donald Trump can't claim President Sheinbaum of inaction, because in reality she is doing a lot with these many thousands of detentions, many thousands of seizures, and all the operational weakening of criminal groups. It’s very politically profitable,” commented Vargas.
Persistent Violence and Public Frustration
But despite these measures, Mexico continues to be beset by severe violence, with several states in the midst of cartel-fueled bloodshed. Recently there was a prominent murder of a well-liked local official in the region of Michoacan, among 10 mayors assassinated in the last year.
A short time after, many thousands of protesters demonstrated in the capital and throughout the country to voice their anger at graft and cartel violence.
“The government presents [data] in a way to construct a narrative of security. Politically it’s highly successful, from a social perspective it’s extremely problematic,” Vargas concluded.