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Mexico’s Violence Spikes, Fueled by Drug Trafficking, Kidnapping, Corruption

Posted: July 12th, 2017

Homicides in Mexico surged by 255 percent from 2015 to 2016, and extortion cases increased by 30 percent, according to a recent American Enterprise Institute report. In cities previously identified as success stories – Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, for example – violence has returned to record levels.

This year, the Fund for Peace Fragile States Index ranked Mexico as most-worsened country, tying with Ethiopia for the bottom spot. This comes on the heels of a decade-long trend of improvement. The organization’s executive director, J.J. Messner, attributes this year’s result to “a surge in violence … as well as high-profile cases of organized crime that included the abduction of 43 students in Guerrero.” That abduction occurred in 2014.

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