Mexico’s crackdown against organized crime continues to bear fruit as the government reported a daily average of 47.3 homicides in May, the lowest monthly figure since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office in October 2024 and the lowest number for May in 11 years. The president pointed to the persistent work of Cabinet officials as one reason Mexico has been able to curb the violence often perpetuated by transnational criminal organizations.
“Look at the result – a 46% reduction in homicides,” Sheinbaum told reporters in June, pointing to the difference between the homicide rate of May 2026 and the one for September 2024, Mexico News Daily reported. “A reduction in all high-impact crimes. A reduction in homicides of 46%. In other words, there are practically half the homicides that there were in September 2024,” Sheinbaum said.
In previous news conferences, Sheinbaum said her government has made significant progress in cracking down on violent cartels. She cited the steep drop in homicides, lower fentanyl seizures by the United States at the border and sparse migration. Close cooperation with U.S. authorities has contributed to the crime reduction, she said. “There are very compelling results from the joint cooperation and the work that Mexico has been doing,” she said in January 2026, according to The Associated Press.
The downward trend in murder rates extends throughout 2026 with an average of 50.4 homicides per day from January through May. That is a 29.8% drop for the same period in 2025, Mexico News Daily reported. Murder rates dropped in 28 of Mexico’s 32 states with San Luis Potosi leading the declines with a drop of 81%. San Luis Potosi is an area in central Mexico with about 3 million residents.
The crime numbers are the result of an organized effort to curb violence, Sheinbaum said. Since October 2024, authorities have arrested more than 56,000 people for so-called high-impact crimes, which include murder, kidnapping, rape, violent robbery and extortion.
Omar García Harfuch, the head of Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Protection of Citizens, told reporters that nearly 1,500 alleged extortionists have been arrested since the government launched an antiextortion strategy in July 2025. In June 2026, the government announced the arrests of 11 people linked to a criminal network believed to have extorted tourist service providers in the resort city of Acapulco, The Yucatan Times reported.
The government said the criminal cell operated along the high-traffic Miguel Alemán coastal avenue, where they used threats, intimidation, kidnapping and property theft to force beach vendors and tourist operators to make extortion payments. Authorities seized three handguns, narcotics, cash, three vehicles and 23 electronic devices, The Yucatan Times reported.
Guanajuato, located in the center of the country and northwest of Mexico City, continues to be Mexico’s most violent jurisdiction. It recorded 668 homicides from January through May. The violence is largely attributed to an ongoing turf war between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.