Daily Homicides in the nation Decline Thirty-Seven Percent During Claudia Sheinbaum, Per Government Figures

The typical number of per-day killings monthly in Mexico has decreased by 37% since President Claudia Sheinbaum began her term, as stated by fresh government figures. Nevertheless, public safety specialists have cautioned that murder data could fail to indicate improved national stability.

Significant Drop in Per-Day Numbers

There was an mean of close to 55 homicides a day in November as opposed to almost 87 when the President assumed the leadership in September of last year. This data was delivered by the director of the nation's federal public security agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the leader's daily news conference on Tuesday.

“The figures in killings that we have seen during these past months is remarkably significant,” Claudia Sheinbaum said, adding that the previous month the lowest figure of homicides were documented for any November in the last 10 years.

Recent Context and Government Strategy

Fierce organized crime rivalries, alongside the government’s highly military campaigns to confront the drug gangs, have led to Mexico’s homicide rate rise sharply in the past few years. The rate reached a record high of 36,773 homicides in 2020, as reported by the country’s national statistics agency.

That resulted in Mexico a homicide rate more than four times greater than that of the United States. Since then, killings have been on the downward trend, declining to 33,550 in the last calendar year. Sheinbaum has linked her national security plan for an ostensibly more pronounced reduction in homicides in the current year.

At a media briefing in the summer, the Mexican leader stated: “We have a plan, there is oversight of the plan, and there is specific tracking municipality by municipality in some cases. The strategy is effective. And we have to keep working at it each day.”

The central pillars of the President's security strategy include:

• Bolstering Mexico’s federal guard.
• Advancing information gathering and investigative capabilities.
• Increased coordination between government agencies.

Expert Skepticism and Data Concerns

But, public safety researchers cautioned that relying on murder data to paint a picture of peace was problematic. This is particularly true in light of the increase in other crimes such as abductions.

“That would be positive information if this was a reduction, but I think we must not just focus on the murder numbers and think: ‘Well then, good,’” said Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an specialist on Mexico's cartels. “I would be tentatively hopeful.”

As reported by the public policy research thinktank Mexico Evalúa, murders in total fell by more than 20% in the initial 10 months of the current year compared with the same timeframe last year. However, disappearances have gone up by 15% and in certain regions have surged by up to 200%.

“Data on homicides is not useful for gauging the reality of insecurity,” stated Armando Vargas, a security analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “Firstly, we have law enforcement and investigators who lack the resources or the desire to correctly recognize and classify corpses. Secondly, organised [criminals] … have the capability to mask violence through abductions.”

Vargas noted that using monthly averages of daily killings was additionally problematic because it could obscure periods when there were especially elevated numbers of killings.

“Relying on the daily mean renders spikes of violent crime less visible,” he concluded.

Arrests and Confiscations as Metrics of Progress

An area where the administration can highlight the effectiveness of its safety plan is on arrests and confiscations. Close to 40,000 people were apprehended between last October and November 2025 for major offenses, according to government figures. More than 20,000 weapons were seized and 311 tons of narcotics confiscated.

“Trump can't accuse President Sheinbaum of not acting, because in reality she is accomplishing a lot with these many thousands of detentions, thousands of confiscations, and all the operational degrading of organised crime. It’s highly in political terms profitable,” stated Vargas.

Persistent Violence and Societal Anger

However despite these actions, Mexico is still plagued by high bloodshed, with a number of regions in the throes of cartel-fueled violence. Recently there was a prominent killing of a popular local official in the state of Michoacan, among 10 mayors assassinated in the last year.

Weeks after, thousands of young people took to the streets in Mexico City and across the nation to express their anger at graft and narco-violence.

“The administration presents [data] in a manner to build a story of improvement. Politically it’s highly successful, from a social perspective it’s highly debatable,” the analyst remarked.