According to Fox News, “The number of murders in Mexico in 2019 hit a new record high with more than 35,500 homicides, according to government data, despite President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s pledge to tackle crime and violence in the country in his first year in office.”
Obrador assumed the presidency in December 2018 pledging to pacify the country with a less confrontational approach to security, but violence has continued to rise. He has publicly called for a policy of “hugs, not bullets” when dealing with the country’s drug cartels and also called for decriminalizing drugs and for reforming the country’s penal system.
Obrador has, in the past, acknowledged that crime and violence are the toughest challenges Mexico faces. But on Jan. 22, he said corruption is the country’s main problem. He said that white-collar criminals have done more damage to Mexico than the drug cartels responsible for many of the killings.
“We are giving almost the same weight to [fighting] white-collar crime, as we do to drug cartels,” López Obrador said.
According to data released by the national public security system, the number of homicides in Mexico rose to 35,588 in 2019.