2017 Marked Mexico’s Deadliest Year In Recorded History; 2018 Off To Bloody Start

Mexico’s out-of-control drug war has resulted in the country’s deadliest year since they began keeping records in 1997 – the third consecutive year of increases under President Enrique Peña Nieto, and a 27 percent increase over 2016.

29,168 people, or 20.5 out of every 100,000 residents were murdered in the violent country which shares a porous border with the United States, according to figures by the Interior Ministry.

That said, the figures are likely much higher than that:

Mexico security analyst Alejandro Hope said Mexico’s murder rate is probably higher than the Interior Department statistics show, because the department does the per 100,000 count based on the number of murder investigations, not the number of victims, and a killing may result in more than one victim. Hope says the real homicide rate is probably around 24 per 100,000. –NY Post

Using Hope’s estimate, this would bring Mexico’s 2017 murder count to 34,148.

Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department warned U.S. citizens and U.S. government employees to exercise increased caution while traveling in Mexico, and even restricted some regions from access because of “violent crime, such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery.”

Mexico has one of the highest murder rates in the world – though several Latin American nations still have higher rates despite an incorrect tweet from President Trump last week that Mexico is “now rated the number one most dangerous country in the world.”

We need the Wall for the safety and security of our country. We need the Wall to help stop the massive inflow of drugs from Mexico, now rated the number one most dangerous country in the world. If there is no Wall, there is no Deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018

According to a World Bank report, Brazil and Colombia had approxiamtely 27 murders per 100,000 residents, while Venezuela stands at 57 per 100,000 and El Salvador clocked in at 60.8 during 2017.

Meanwhile, 2018 is off to a bloody start, as nine people were killed, dismembered, and had their body parts stuffed into a van in the state capital of Xalpia during the first few days of the year, reports The Post. 

The grisly scene — literally a jumbled pile of human limbs and torsos topped by a threatening note apparently signed by the Zetas drug gang — was reminiscent of the mass dumping of bodies in the state in 2011.

Earlier in the new year, five severed heads were found arranged on the hood of a taxi in the tourist town of Tlacotalpan, Veracruz and four others found in another city in the same state. –NY Post

As Zerohedge reported last October, 73 percent of murders in Mexico committed in the first eight months of the 2017 were related to organized crime. In 2007, there were 2,828 executions. A decade later, 18,017 have been reported.

All high-impact crimes have increased during the current year, including abductions, homicides and grand theft auto at gunpoint. According to Roel, the main cause of violence and corruption is the “Mérida Plan,” which focuses on eradicating drug cartels. –PanAmPost

Moreover, some 85,000 insured vehicles were stolen between October 2016 and September 2017, with 60% being considered ‘violent’.

According to the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions, violent car robberies are at their highest point in the country’s history. Between October 2016 and September 2017, 85,943 insured cars have been stolen. Sixty percent of the robberies were violent.

Recaredo Arias, the association’s Director General, said that elements of organized crime have been identified in these cases, and that more urgent measures are needed to combat the problem.

The states of Guerrero, Sinaloa, Mexico City, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Michoacán, Zacatecas, Morelos, Tabasco and Tamaulipas, have the highest numbers of violent car thefts, he said.

As Fox News pointed out in October that the drug wars south of the border are seemingly on the precipice of becoming way more sophisticated, after 4 men were arrested by federal police carrying a drone equipped with an improvised explosive device wired for remote detonation.

The recent arrest in Mexico of four men carrying a drone equipped with an improvised explosive device “ready to be detonated” has stoked fears drug cartels could soon target the U.S. with bombs from above.

Mexican Federal Police arrested four men Oct. 20 in Guanajuanto who were driving a stolen vehicle equipped with a 3DR Solo Quadcopter drone attached to an IED, Small Wars Journal reported. The drone had a range of about half a mile, but modifications would have allowed it to fly farther.

State Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre confirmed the arrests and the IED attached to the drone.

Aguirre said authorities investigated the drone, which contained a “significant amount of explosive and was ready to be detonated from a distance,” AM reported.

“It is a drone,” he said. “I have just confirmed that it is an explosive device, with a remote detonator and a large explosive charge.”

En #Salamanca #Guanajuato la policía asegura a4 sujetos con arma larga, cargadores y un drone con explosivos adheridos. @Eloy_Arellano pic.twitter.com/QR9GUnhbY2

— TalaJalisco Noticias (@TalaNoticias) October 20, 2017

If only there were some type of physical barrier between the Unitd States and such violence.