Mexico’s homicide rate has jumped by a third in the last year, pushing it up into the top dozen most murderous countries in the world, with four people killed every hour.
With Mexico’s population pushing 130 million, that brings the annual murder rate to around 25 murders per 100,000 people, in comparison to around five murders per 100,000 people in the United States.
The 33,341 cases do not include the category of “culpable homicide” which adds another 17,000 deaths.
Mexico’s rising death rate pushes it higher and for the first time this year it will be listed in the top 20 countries experiencing the highest homicide prevalence rates, according to the World Economic Forum.
The rise in murders is linked to drug cartel violence that has continued to rise despite the militarized crackdown that started 12 years ago.
The state of Guanajuato that lies at the center of the county, has been hardest hit with turf wars between gangs pushing up the murder rate from 1,084 to 3,290 in just one year.
On the weekend, three gunmen shot to death seven people at a house in the Mexican resort of Cancún, a coastal city that has been hit by rising drug-related violence.
The shooting was a dispute between street-level drug dealers, reported The Associated Press.
The Jalisco cartel is from the Pacific Coast and has been trying to take over illegal activities on the other side of the country in Cancún and other resorts to the south.
250 Human Skulls
About 70 miles away, the town of Playa del Carmen, sitting on the cruise ship routes, has grown with the tourist trade in recent years. But that growth has brought the gangs and drugs.Last year, a mass grave was found in central Mexico, with over 250 human skulls. The remains were most likely of victims of drug cartels over the years, according to authorities.
El Salvador had the highest murder rate in the world in 2016, at 84, with Honduras and Venezuela in second and third with 57 and 56 respectively.
Brazil, Guatemala, and Belize also make the top 10, along with Jamaica and South Africa.
Twelve journalists were killed in Mexico in 2018.
Mexico’s recently sworn-in president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador has pledged to overhaul Mexico’s approach to tackling drugs.