Everyday Killings in Mexico Fall Over a Third During Claudia Sheinbaum, Per Official Data

The typical figure of per-day killings monthly in Mexico has fallen by thirty-seven percent since Head of State Claudia Sheinbaum began her term, according to recent administrative figures. But, security specialists have warned that murder data might not point to better countrywide security.

Notable Reduction in Daily Figures

There was an mean of almost 55 homicides a day in last November compared with roughly 87 when the President assumed the presidency in September. This information was shared by the head of the nation's federal public security agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s daily press briefing on a recent Tuesday.

“The figures in homicides that we’ve had during these months is remarkably significant,” Sheinbaum stated, explaining that in November the least number of murders were documented for any single November in the last 10 years.

Historical Context and Official Plan

Fierce cartel internal conflicts, alongside the government’s heavily military efforts to take on the trafficking organizations, have caused Mexico’s murder rate soar in recent times. The figure peaked at a record high of 36,773 killings in 2020, according to the nation's official data agency.

That meant Mexico a murder rate over four times higher than the United States. Since then, homicides have been on the decrease, falling to 33,550 last year. Claudia Sheinbaum has attributed her public safety plan for an ostensibly steeper drop in killings in the current year.

At a media briefing in August, the President said: “We have a strategy, there is oversight of the plan, and we have specific monitoring locality by locality in some cases. The approach functions. And we have to continue working at it each day.”

The central components of Sheinbaum’s security strategy include:

• Bolstering Mexico’s domestic security force.
• Advancing information gathering and investigation capabilities.
• Greater coordination between various authorities.

Analyst Caution and Data Limitations

However, public safety researchers cautioned that using murder data to draw a conclusion of pacification was flawed. This is particularly true considering the uptick in different crimes such as abductions.

“It would be excellent news if this was a decrease, but I think we can’t just focus on the homicide numbers and think: ‘Oh well, good,’” stated Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an authority on Mexican cartels. “I would be cautiously optimistic.”

According to the public policy analysis organization Mexico Evalúa, murders overall dropped by over 20% in the initial 10 months of the current year relative to the identical timeframe last year. Yet, disappearances have increased by 15% and in certain regions have risen by up to 200%.

“Data on homicides is not useful for gauging the context of violence,” argued Armando Vargas, a security analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “First, we have law enforcement and prosecutors who lack the ability or the inclination to properly identify and classify corpses. Second, organized [criminals] … have the capability to hide violence through abductions.”

Vargas pointed out that relying on month-to-month means of daily killings was additionally an issue because it could hide days when there were notably spiking levels of murders.

“Relying on the daily average renders spikes of violence invisible,” he stated.

Detentions and Seizures as Metrics of Progress

An area where the administration can point to the success of its security plan is on detentions and seizures. Nearly 40,000 suspects were arrested between October 2024 and November 2025 for serious offenses, per government figures. More than 20,000 guns were confiscated and 311 tons of narcotics confiscated.

“Donald Trump can't accuse President Sheinbaum of doing nothing, because actually she is doing a lot with these thousands of arrests, many thousands of seizures, and all the operational degrading of organised crime. It’s highly in political terms beneficial,” said Vargas.

Persistent Unrest and Societal Frustration

But notwithstanding these actions, Mexico is still grappling with severe bloodshed, with a number of states in the midst of cartel-related bloodshed. Last month there was a prominent assassination of a popular mayor in the region of Michoacan, among 10 local leaders assassinated in the last year.

A short time after, many thousands of young people took to the streets in the capital and throughout the nation to show their anger at corruption and drug violence.

“The government presents [data] in a way to create a picture of improvement. Politically it’s extremely successful, from a social perspective it’s very questionable,” Vargas remarked.