22, Jan 2018 | CJP Team

The Guardian reported that Mexico recorded 29,168 murders in 2017, the highest such number in decades, according to government data. The number of murders for 2017 is higher than the homicide rate at the height of the drug war in Mexico in 2011; in that year, the number of murders was 27,213. The murder rate in 2017 is the highest since comparable records were initiated in 1997. It is believed that drug-related violence and turf battles sparked by a growing drug cartel, the New Generation cartel in Jalisco, have been major contributing factors to the increasing homicide rate. Mexico has seen several years of violence, with the government combating drug cartels that have progressively broken up into “smaller, more bloodthirsty gangs.” Violence is a key issue in Mexico’s upcoming presidential election, in which President Enrique Peña Nieto will struggle to keep his party in power, according to the Guardian. There were 40% more murder investigations opened in 2017 compared to 2013, which was  Peña Nieto’s first full year in office.