Day-to-Day Murders in the nation Fall Thirty-Seven Percent During President Sheinbaum, Per Official Data

The average figure of everyday killings each month in Mexico has fallen by more than a third since President Claudia Sheinbaum assumed power, per fresh official statistics. However, security analysts have warned that murder numbers could fail to indicate enhanced national safety.

Notable Reduction in Daily Figures

Officials reported an mean of nearly 55 murders a day in November versus roughly 87 when Claudia Sheinbaum took the presidential office in September. This announcement was provided by the head of the country’s federal safety agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s regular press briefing on a recent Tuesday.

“The figures in homicides that have been recorded in these past months is remarkably significant,” Claudia Sheinbaum stated, explaining that last month the smallest figure of murders were recorded for any November in the last 10 years.

Recent Context and Government Strategy

Intense organized crime internal conflicts, coupled with the administration's heavily military operations to take on the drug gangs, have caused Mexico’s murder numbers escalate in recent times. The figure peaked at a peak of 36,773 killings in 2020, as reported by the country’s official data agency.

That resulted in Mexico a murder figure more than 4x higher than the United States. Since then, homicides have been on the downward trend, falling to 33,550 in the last calendar year. Claudia Sheinbaum has linked her public safety approach for an ostensibly more pronounced decline in homicides in the current year.

At a media briefing in the summer, the President said: “There is a plan, there is tracking of the strategy, and we have detailed tracking locality by locality in certain cases. The strategy functions. And we have to keep working at it daily.”

The key elements of Sheinbaum’s safety strategy include:

• Strengthening Mexico’s federal guard.
• Improving information gathering and investigative work.
• Increased collaboration between government departments.

Analyst Caution and Statistical Concerns

However, public safety analysts warned that focusing solely on homicide data to draw a conclusion of improved security was problematic. This is particularly true considering the rise in other criminal activities such as abductions.

“That would be very good news if this were a drop, but I think we can’t just focus on the murder numbers and conclude: ‘Well then, great,’” commented Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an specialist on Mexican criminal organizations. “I would be tentatively hopeful.”

According to the public policy analysis organization Mexico Evalúa, murders in total fell by over 20% in the initial 10 months of this year compared with the same period last year. However, disappearances have gone up by 15% and in some states have risen by up to 200%.

“Numbers on homicides is not reliable for gauging the reality of insecurity,” said Armando Vargas, a security expert at Mexico Evalúa. “Firstly, we have law enforcement and prosecutors who do not have the resources or the inclination to correctly recognize and categorize corpses. Secondly, organised [criminals] … have the capability to hide violence through disappearances.”

Vargas added that using monthly means of everyday killings was similarly problematic because it might mask periods when there were especially spiking numbers of murders.

“Employing the daily mean makes spikes of violent crime less visible,” he stated.

Detentions and Confiscations as Measures of Success

An area where the government can cite the success of its security plan is on arrests and seizures. Close to 40,000 individuals were arrested between October 2024 and November 2025 for major offenses, per official figures. More than 20,000 guns were confiscated and 311 tonnes of narcotics intercepted.

“Trump can't accuse President Sheinbaum of doing nothing, because actually she is accomplishing a lot with these many thousands of detentions, many thousands of confiscations, and all the operational degrading of criminal groups. It’s very in political terms beneficial,” commented Vargas.

Persistent Violence and Societal Frustration

But despite these efforts, Mexico remains grappling with severe bloodshed, with a number of states in the midst of cartel-fueled violence. In the previous month there was a prominent killing of a well-liked mayor in the state of Michoacan, among 10 local leaders murdered in the last 12 months.

Weeks later, many thousands of youth demonstrated in Mexico City and across the nation to show their outrage at corruption and cartel violence.

“The administration presents [data] in a manner to create a story of security. Politically it’s extremely successful, socially it’s very debatable,” Vargas said.