Crime in Mexico - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Crime is among the most urgent concerns facing Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, as Mexican drug trafficking rings play a major role in the flow of cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

, heroin, and marijuana transiting between Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Drug trafficking has led to corruption

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

, which has had a deleterious effect on Mexico's Federal Representative Republic. Drug trafficking and organized crime

Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

have also been a major source of violent crime

Violent crime

A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...

in Mexico.

Mexico has experienced increasingly high crime rates, especially in major urban centers. The country's great economic polarization has stimulated criminal activity in the lower socioeconomic strata, which include the majority of the country's population. Crime continues at high levels, and is repeatedly marked by violence, especially in the cities of Tijuana

Tijuana

Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...

and Ciudad Juárez

Ciudad Juárez

Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...

, and the states of Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

, Durango

Durango

Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...

, Sinaloa

Sinaloa

Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....

, Guerrero

Guerrero

Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....

, Chihuahua, Michoacán

Michoacán

Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...

, Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...

, and Nuevo León

Nuevo León

Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...

. Other metropolitan areas have lower, yet still serious, levels of crime. Low apprehension and conviction rates contribute to the high crime rate.

Crime rates

Crime rates in Mexico per 100,000 inhabitants
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	USA in 2004
Total Crimes	1433.81	1439.41	1391.54	1521.93	1503.71	4118.76
Murder	14.93	15.13	14.11	13.94	13.04	5.62
Murder with firearm	3.45	4.54	3.66	3.53	2.58	1.25
Assault	254.35	257.39	260.39	260.41	251.91	NA
Aggravated assault	171.06	172.02	185.01	187.33	186.68	310.14
Rape	11.89	11.9	13.33	13.05	14.26	32.99
Theft	148.27	108.11	100.22	116.74	112.47	2445.80
Automobile theft	161.15	161.52	162.10	150.66	139.86	432.12
Robbery	316.54	274.63	219.59	158.16	146.57	145.87
Burglary	145.72	153.58	142.58	NA	NA	746.22
Fraud	54.63	50.48	50.96	54.64	61.47	NA
Drug offenses	20.62	23.97	24.65	23.38	23.40	NA
Source: The 7th and 8th Surveys, United Nations

Analysis of crime statistics in Mexico indicate that although the crime rate has declined over the last 100 years, there has been a significant upswing within the last two decades led by Mexico City. Since many crimes go unreported, the rates may be much higher than reported by the government.

Rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

is rarely reported or punished, owing to old social norms

Norm (sociology)

Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...

, minor penalties for the crime, and criminal law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

s. In some rural areas, penalties for rape may consist of a few hours in jail, or minor fines.

Assault and theft make up the vast majority of crimes. While urban areas tend to have higher crimes rates, as is typical in most countries, the United States–Mexico border

United States–Mexico border

The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico. It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east, and traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major...

has also been a problem area. However, with increased awareness and resources, the crime rate along the border has declined faster than in the rest of the country.

Crime in Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

's crime rate has begun rising again, after having previously peaked in the late 1990s. Mexico City's inner core has about 8 million people — about the same number as New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. However, Mexico City's police force is only two-thirds the size of New York City's and is organized into several ill-coordinated forces. Policemen earn less than a quarter of their U.S. counterparts, so a number officers turn to corruption to augment their income. And even in the cases where criminals do get caught, some courts are often too corrupt and inefficient to punish them.

Drug trafficking

The United States is a lucrative market for illegal drugs. The United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

estimates that nearly 90% of cocaine

Cocaine

sold in the United States originates in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

and is smuggled through Mexico. Mexico is the largest foreign supplier of marijuana and the second largest source of heroin for the U.S. market. The majority of methamphetamine sold in the United States is made in Mexico, and Mexican-run methamphetamine

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...

labs that operate north of the border account for much of the remainder.

Drug cartels

Mexican drug cartel

Drug cartel

Drug cartels are criminal organizations developed with the primary purpose of promoting and controlling drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the largest trafficking...

s play a major role in the flow of cocaine

Cocaine

, heroin, and marijuana transiting between Latin America

Latin America

and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. These drug cartels often use Mexican-American gangs to distribute their narcotics.

Mexican drug cartels also have ties to Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n drug traffickers, and other international organized crime. A sharp spike in drug-related violence has some analysts worrying about the 'Colombianization' of Mexico.

Domestic production of illegal drugs

Some illegal drugs are also produced in Mexico, including significant amounts of opium poppy

Opium poppy

Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine , thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine...

, and marijuana in the western Sierra Madre

Sierra Madre Occidental

The Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range in western Mexico.-Setting:The range runs north to south, from just south of the Sonora–Arizona border southeast through eastern Sonora, western Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Jalisco, Aguascalientes to Guanajuato, where it joins...

Mountains region.
Mexico has increasingly become a major producer of amphetamines and other synthetic drugs in the North American market (e.g. crystal

Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...

), especially in the states of Guerrero, Michoacán, Jalisco and the Distrito Federal. Since early 2007, the export of manufactured drugs has been controlled by the Beltran-Leyva brothers (Sonora-Sinaloa-DF) and "la Familia de Michoacán". These two crime groups have controlled the corridors from the deep sea port of Lázaro Cárdenas

Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán

Lázaro Cárdenas is a port city that with its surrounding municipality is located in the southern part of the Mexican state of Michoacán. It was formerly known as Los Llanitos, but changed its name as a tribute to Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, a Michoacán-born politician who was president of Mexico from...

in Michoacán, where precursor products to manufacture synthetic drugs are imported from the far East.

Domestic consumption of illegal drugs

Marijuana, crack cocaine, methamphetamine

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...

, and other drugs are increasingly consumed in Mexico, especially by youths in urban areas and northern parts of the country.

Corruption

High levels of corruption in the police, judiciary, and government in general have contributed greatly to the crime problem. Corruption is a significant obstacle to Mexico's achieving a stable democracy.

Mexico is ranked the 86th least corrupt country in the world which makes them less corrupt than Argentina and more corrupt than China. This is according to the Corruption Perceptions Index

Corruption Perceptions Index

Since 1995, Transparency International publishes the Corruption Perceptions Index annually ranking countries "by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private...

, which is based on 13 different surveys and includes police, business, and political corruption.

In law enforcement

The organization of police forces in Mexico is complex; each police force has a different level of jurisdiction and authority, and those levels often overlap. The Procuraduría General de la República
Attorney General (Mexico)
The Attorney General of Mexico is the head of the Office of the General Prosecutor and the Federal Public Ministry , an institution belonging to the Federal executive branch that is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of...

(Federal Attorney General's office) along with the law enforcement agencies Policia Federal Preventiva and Agencia Federal de Investigación, has responsibility for overseeing law enforcements across the entire country. In addition, there are several police organizations at the state, district, and city level. Since pay is generally poor (US$285–$400 per month), police officers are more likely to accept bribes to protect criminals or ignore crime entirely. Law enforcement personnel are often presented with the option of choosing "Plata o Plomo"; meaning they can either accept a bribe (plata, for silver) or they will be killed (plomo, for lead).

Corruption plagues the various levels of police, and is frequently difficult to track down and prosecute since police officers may be protected by district attorneys and other members of the judiciary. The problem is especially pronounced in northern border areas such as Tijuana, where police are engaged by drug traffickers to protect and enforce their illicit interests.

The Mexican police force often do not investigate crimes, will generally randomly select someone to be the guilty party then fabricate the evidence. This issue is a major problem throughout Mexico as many of the actual police force are the ones involved in the crimes or are trying to cover up their poor police work.

In the judiciary

A United Nations Special Rapporteur undertook a mission to Mexico in 2002 to investigate reports by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

United Nations Commission on Human Rights

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006...

that the country's judiciary

Judiciary

The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...

and administration of law was not independent. During the course of his visit to a number of cities, the rapporteur observed that corruption in the judiciary had not been reduced significantly. One of the principal issues is that, because the federal courts operate at a relatively high level, most citizens are compelled to seek justice in the inadequate state courts.

Additionally, the rapporteur expressed concerns about such issues as disorganization in the legal profession

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, difficulties and harassment faced by lawyers, poor trial

Trial (law)

In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...

procedures, poor access to the justice system for indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....

and minors, and lacklustre investigation

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

of many crimes.

Violent crime against journalists

A significant trend of violent crime against journalists has appeared in the country in recent years. Although the problem has existed since at least 1970, 15 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000 alone. Few of the perpetrators have been brought to justice. One of the more prominent cases was that of syndicated columnist Francisco Arratia Saldierna, a prominent and well-known journalist who wrote a column called Portavoz (or "Spokesman"). The column featured topics such as corruption, organized crime, and drug trafficking.

Arratia's murder, which was particularly brutal, and others like it, sparked demands from other journalists that then-President Vicente Fox

Vicente Fox

Vicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican former politician who served as President of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected...

do more to enforce security and bring those responsible for the murders to justice. In 2004, a group of 215 reporters and editors sent an urgent letter to President Fox and other federal authorities, demanding that they address these concerns. The letter represented a massive communication effort coming from professionals from 19 of the nation's 31 states. The key demand was that violent crimes against journalists be made federal crimes, so they would be investigated and prosecuted by federal officers and not by local officials whom the letter claims could be the same people who commit the crimes.

The effect of these crimes has been the self-censorship of many journalists, due to fears of retribution from criminals. The situation has earned attention from prominent global organizations such as the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET). Amerigo Incalcaterra of the OHCHR advocated the protection of journalists and the preservation of freedom of speech

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...

, calling it "essential for the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law

Rule of law

The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...

in this country".

Impunity

According to the CNDH, only one out of every ten crimes is reported in Mexico; this is due to lack of trust from citizens to the authorities. Furthermore, only one out of 100 reported crimes actually goes to sentencing. This means that one out of every 1000 crimes is punished.

Effects on tourism

A significant number of United States citizens visit Mexico; the U.S. State Department estimates it at 15 to 16 million per year. Tourists visiting Mexico may face a number of problems related to criminal activity, including:

Extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...

by law enforcement and other officials.
Kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

s, particularly in northern border cities.
Taxi robberies and armed robbery.
Purse-snatching and pickpocketing
Pickpocketing
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person of a victim without their noticing the theft at the time. It requires considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection...

.

Due to crime reaching a critical level in Mexico City and many other areas, tourism to Mexico

Tourism in Mexico

Tourism in Mexico is a very large industry. Mexico is the number one destination for foreign tourists within the Latin America region and number two destination in the Americas, ranking worldwide in the tenth place in terms of the international tourist arrivals, with more than 22.6 million visitors...

has suffered.

Law enforcement initiatives

Mexican law enforcement is divided between federal, state, and municipal entities. Estimates range between 1,600 and 3,000 different police forces in total. There are over 350,000 police agents in Mexico.

At all levels, policing in Mexico tends to maintain separate forces for patrol/response (preventive) policing on the one hand and investigative (judicial) policing on the other.

Federal forces at the border

In June 2005, the government deployed federal forces to three states

States of Mexico

The United Mexican States is a federal republic formed by 32 federal entities .According to the Constitution of 1917, the states of the federation are free and sovereign. Each state has their own congress and constitution, while the Federal District has only limited autonomy with a local Congress...

to contain surging violence linked to organized crime. At a news conference in Mexico City, presidential spokesman Rubén Aguilar

Rubén Aguilar

Rubén Aguilar is a journalist, a former guerrilla, and the press secretary for Mexican President Vicente Fox. He is son of a former chair of the Banking Association in Mexico, and a former Jesuit ....

told reporters that the new deployment was the result of evidence that organized crime has penetrated some local police departments.

Technology in Tijuana

In response to a rise in violent crime in the region of Tijuana

Tijuana

, considered one of the five most violent areas of the country by the U.S. State Department

United States Department of State

The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...

, mayor Jorge Hank Rhon

Jorge Hank Rhon

Jorge Hank Rhon is a Mexican politician, businessman and owner of Mexico's largest sports betting company, Caliente. An eccentric and controversial personality, he served from December 2004 to February 2007 as the president of the municipality of Tijuana. He is the son of former Mexico City mayor...

deployed a massive technology update to the city's police force in February 2006. The technology includes surveillance equipment, handheld computers, and alarm systems. Since tourism is a staple of the economy in Tijuana, the mayor has tried to make reforms to highlight the safety of tourist areas.

Political initiatives

President Vicente Fox

Vicente Fox

took power in December 2000 promising to crack down on crime and improve a judicial system rife with corruption and ineptitude. Upon taking office, he established a new ministry of Security and Police, doubled the pay for police officers, and committed to other ethics reforms. President Fox also cited drug trafficking and drug consumption as the top cross-border priority issue.

During the first three years of Fox's government, the official number of reported kidnappings showed a slight decrease, from 505 in 2001 to 438 in 2003. The new Federal Investigation Agency (Procuraduria de Justicia) reported dismantling 48 kidnapping rings and saving 419 victims.

Cooperation with the United States

In 1996, Mexico changed its policy to allow extradition

Extradition

Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...

of its citizens to the United States to face trial

Trial

A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...

. Previously, the Constitution

Constitution of Mexico

The Political Constitution of the United Mexican States is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in the State of Querétaro, by a constitutional convention, during the Mexican Revolution. It was approved by the Constitutional Congress on February 5, 1917...

had forbidden its citizens to be extradited.

In 2005, the U.S. State Department

United States Department of State

defended efforts by the two countries to reduce violence and drug trafficking on the border following decisions by governors in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

s of Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

and New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

to declare an emergency in their border counties. The two governors stated that the federal government's inability to control crime and violence related to illegal immigration had forced them to take matters into their own hands. The Mexican government criticized the emergency declarations.

The U.S. state of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

and Mexican police officials held a conference in San Antonio to discuss ways of coordinating efforts to stop crime but there are questions about how successful the program will be.

Many Mexican police officials in border towns have been targets of assassination by drug cartels, who have even threatened local law enforcement in the United States. Drug cartels have even acquired equipment like Mexican Army uniforms, Humvees, grenades and .50 calibre sniper rifles which can penetrate most light armour including armoured cars. The United States ambassador launched a formal complaint with the government on this issue.

In January 2003, the security consulting company of former New York City

New York City

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was hired by business leaders to come up with a plan to clean up Mexico City, which has the second-highest crime rate in Latin America. If such a plan was developed, it was either not implemented or not effective. Further information about the plan was not provided by the government nor Giuliani.

Protest march against crime

In June 2004, at least a million people marched through the Mexican capital and other cities to protest the failure of federal and local governments to control crime in one of the world's most crime-ridden countries.

In 2008 a second civilian protest was made after independent NGOs exhorted the public, again, at least one million people attended over Mexico City and other major cities all across Mexico. On this second march candles were lit and the national anthem was played. The protest generated more public attention perhaps because in this same year, a 12-year-old son of the Marti family, owners of a prominent well-known sports gear business, was abducted and murdered. In the same year, a similar situation occurred to the 19-year-old daughter of Nelson Vargas, a businessman and former government representative. These two cases brought great public attention since the scale of crime and violence was very rare to hit over certain social groups, being these amongst the most remarkable exemptions.

External links

Mexico Black Markets Havocscope Black Markets
Mexico page on InSight Crime Ongoing reporting on Mexico's drug war and involved cartels.
Mexican Crime Stats NationMaster
Mexican Crime Statistics and Analysis Center for Economic Research and Education (CIDE)
Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity in Mexico, 1999-2002 Library of Congress
Potent Mexican Meth Floods In as States Curb Domestic Variety New York Times
The Best Page about Mexican Crime Statistics Actualized to 2011 in some cases

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Crime rates

Crime in Mexico City

Drug trafficking

Drug cartels

Domestic production of illegal drugs

Domestic consumption of illegal drugs

Corruption

In law enforcement

In the judiciary

Violent crime against journalists

Impunity

Effects on tourism

Law enforcement initiatives

Federal forces at the border

Technology in Tijuana

Political initiatives

Cooperation with the United States

Protest march against crime

See also

External links