Insecurity and Slow Growth: Mexico Is Waiting for the Benefits of Reform Mexico News Daily
go to original July 28, 2014

President Peña Nieto: Waiting for the results

Promises made by President Peña Nieto are coming back to haunt him and his administration, as security issues persist and economic growth has failed - until now - to materialize.

According to Sin Embargo, the U.S. magazine Newsweek led the charge this past week with a story claiming that security is worse than it ever was under former President Felipe Calderón, who launched a war against drug cartels that led to severe violence.

Indeed, the report says that not even during the worst moments of that war did Mexico record so much violence, although the homicide statistics don’t bear this out. The highest number of homicides was recorded in 2011, and the number has been declining every year since.

Last year’s rate per 100,000 population was 19; in 2011, when drug war violence appears to have peaked, it was 22.8.

The figures for 2013 were down 16% from 2011, according to the statistics agency Inegi. While it is often suggested that government crime statistics are not necessarily reliable, when figures from Inegi - an autonomous agency that uses health records to compile the information - are compared against those gathered by the National Security System (SNSP), the data is not inconsistent, particularly in terms of trends.

During his election campaign, the president promised to reduce the homicide rate by 50%; he still has plenty of time to make good on that promise.

Read the rest at Mexico News Daily

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