Photo: Union of Concerned Scientists

By MARK LORENZANA

According to the Federal Security Cabinet, Mexico registered at least 2,472 murders in May of this year, an average of 80 deaths per day, although the final toll is yet to be counted. Based on past figures, May will probably have a final count of the highest daily average since August 2020.

Guanajuato once again took the top spot among Mexican states in total number of intentional homicides, reaching 330 in May, its fifth-highest figure since August 2020, when the former leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, alias “El Marro,” was arrested. He is currently incarcerated at the Federal Social Re-adaptation Center No. 1, or Altiplano, a maximum-security federal prison in the State of Mexico (EdoMéx). Tuesday, May 24, was the most violent day in Guanajuato, with a registered 19 murders in various municipalities.

Based on historical records, the deadliest months in Guanajuato — not including May 2022 — are the following: September 2020 with 369 killings, October 2020 with 362, August 2020 with 348 and November 2020 with 334.

According to former Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) Alfonso Durazo Montaño, currently the governor of Sonora, there was a decrease in intentional homicides in Guanajuato after the arrest of “El Marro.”

“We can say that, as of the arrest, there has been a significant drop in intentional homicides in the state of Guanajuato, around 50 percent,” he said in August 2020.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), back then, said, “Since the arrest of the head of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, there has been a decrease in intentional homicides. They have not disappeared. But yes, Guanajuato no longer ranks in the first place (in the number of killings).”

After Guanajuato, the State of Mexico ranked second with 234 murders, followed by Michoacán, with 194.

In March of this year, 2,657 murders were registered; in April, there was a slight drop, with the total number reaching 2,547.