https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Violence-on-the-Rise-in-Mexico-Under-Pena-Nieto-20150224-0027.html
Over 130,000 kidnapping cases took place in Mexico in 2013, while 173 have been executed in two weeks.
Violent crimes, including kidnappings and executions, have increased exponentially under President Enrique Peña Nieto according to Mexican newspaper Reforma Tuesday.
The new statistics show one kidnapping was reported every five hours in January 2015 alone. The recent spike has seen kidnappings increase 7.2 percent compared to December 2014, while over 170 executions took place in the last two weeks.
“In the first month of 2015, 163 kidnappings have been reported, which is 7.2 percent more than December 2014,” said the anti-kidnapping coordinator, Renato Sales Heredia.
Many have drawn links between the recent rise in violent crime and the current administration.
“Violence has increased considerably since President Peña Nieto took office,” said Sinaloan journalist and internationally renowned writer Javier Valdez.
Most of the kidnapping cases took place in Mexico state, which includes capital Mexico City. At least 52 cases were reported there, while 21 were registered in the northern state of Tamaulipas. There were 17 new cases of kidnapping in Guerrero state, where 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college were disappeared in September last year.
The National Institute of Statistics or Census Bureau (INEGI) reported that despite the fact fewer kidnapping cases were reported during 2013 — some 132,000 — this was still over 26,000 more kidnappings than the previous year, demonstrating that violence and crime has increased since Peña Nieto took office in December 2012.
“This means that an average of 361 kidnappings took place per day, 15 per hour,” the INEGI said last year when revealing the 2013 figures. This meant in 2013 there were 110 kidnappings in every 100,000 inhabitants.
Recent official estimates revealed that over two million people have also been displaced by violence.
Increase in Violence
Adding insult to injury, Reforma published a study Tuesday revealing that organized crime has expanded and is present in 66 municipalities, 18 states, and some areas of Mexico City.
“In the last two weeks, violence linked to organized crime left a death toll of 173 people executed, which comes to more than 10 per day,” Reforma stated.
According to the Mexican newspaper, experts said the increase in violence is due to a withdrawal of federal forces in certain regions of the country and also due to the reshuffling of control and power within the drug cartels.
One specific example given was in the northern state of Tamaulipas, which saw over 40 armed confrontations reported last week alone.