Day-to-Day Killings in the nation Drop Thirty-Seven Percent During President Sheinbaum, Per Government Statistics

The average count of everyday murders monthly in the country has fallen by thirty-seven percent since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office, per recent administrative statistics. However, public safety specialists have advised that homicide figures might not point to better national security.

Notable Drop in Per-Day Averages

Officials reported an average of close to 55 murders a day in last November compared with nearly 87 when the President assumed the presidential office in September. This announcement was delivered by the head of the nation's federal public security agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s daily news conference on Tuesday.

“The result in killings that have been recorded in these months is remarkably notable,” Claudia Sheinbaum said, adding that last month the least amount of homicides were registered for any November in the last 10 years.

Historical Context and Government Strategy

Violent organized crime rivalries, alongside the government’s highly militarised operations to take on the trafficking organizations, have led to Mexico’s murder rate soar in recent times. The figure reached a peak of 36,773 killings in 2020, per the nation's official data agency.

That meant Mexico a homicide figure over four times greater than the United States. However, killings have been on the decrease, declining to 33,550 last year. Sheinbaum has linked her public safety approach for an apparently sharper decline in killings this year.

At a press conference in the summer, the President stated: “There is a strategy, there is monitoring of the plan, and there is detailed tracking municipality by municipality in some cases. The approach is effective. And we have to persist at it each day.”

The central pillars of Sheinbaum’s safety strategy encompass:

• Reinforcing Mexico’s national guard.
• Enhancing intelligence and investigation efforts.
• Enhanced coordination between government agencies.

Expert Caution and Data Concerns

Nevertheless, security experts warned that relying on homicide data to paint a picture of improved security was misleading. This is especially true in light of the increase in different crimes such as forced disappearances.

“This would be positive news if this was a drop, but I think we can’t just focus on the murder data and think: ‘Oh well, great,’” said Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an expert on Mexico's cartels. “I would be guardedly positive.”

As reported by the public policy research thinktank Mexico Evalúa, murders in total declined by more than 20% in the initial 10 months of this year compared with the same timeframe last year. But, disappearances have increased by 15% and in certain states have increased by as much as 200%.

“Statistics on homicides is not reliable for assessing the context of violence,” stated Armando Vargas, a security analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “First, we have police and investigators who do not have the ability or the desire to properly recognize and classify bodies. Second, organised [criminals] … have the means to conceal violent acts through disappearances.”

Vargas noted that relying on month-to-month averages of everyday homicides was also an issue because it could hide days when there were particularly high levels of murders.

“Employing the daily average renders spikes of violence unseen,” he concluded.

Detentions and Confiscations as Metrics of Progress

Where the administration can cite the success of its security strategy is on detentions and confiscations. Close to 40,000 people were arrested between last October and November 2025 for serious offenses, per government figures. More than 20,000 guns were confiscated and 311 tons of narcotics seized.

“Donald Trump cannot claim President Sheinbaum of not acting, because in reality she is doing a lot with these thousands of arrests, thousands of confiscations, and all the operational degrading of organised crime. It’s highly in political terms beneficial,” commented Vargas.

Persistent Unrest and Public Frustration

But notwithstanding these measures, Mexico remains beset by high bloodshed, with a number of states in the midst of cartel-related conflict. Last month there was a prominent killing of a well-liked local official in the state of Michoacan, among 10 mayors murdered in the last year.

A short time later, many thousands of young people took to the streets in the capital and throughout the country to express their outrage at graft and drug violence.

“The federal government frames [data] in a manner to build a picture of improvement. From a political standpoint it’s very potent, from a social perspective it’s very problematic,” the analyst concluded.