Everyday Murders in the nation Fall 37% In Claudia Sheinbaum, Per Government Data

The mean count of daily murders per month in Mexico has dropped by 37% since President Claudia Sheinbaum began her term, according to recent government figures. Nevertheless, public safety experts have cautioned that homicide numbers may not indicate better countrywide security.

Marked Drop in Daily Averages

There was an average of close to 55 murders a day in the month of November versus nearly 87 when Claudia Sheinbaum began the presidential office in the previous September. This data was shared by the head of the country’s national safety agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s regular news conference on a recent Tuesday.

“The figures in homicides that have been recorded over these months is very significant,” Claudia Sheinbaum remarked, adding that the previous month the least number of homicides were documented for any November in the last 10 years.

Historical Context and Government Strategy

Intense organized crime internal conflicts, coupled with the administration's heavily militarised efforts to confront the drug gangs, have led to Mexico’s homicide rate rise sharply in recent years. The figure hit a maximum of 36,773 homicides in 2020, per the country’s official data agency.

That resulted in Mexico a homicide rate over 4x greater than the US. However, murders have been on the downward trend, declining to 33,550 in the last calendar year. Claudia Sheinbaum has credited her national security approach for an apparently more pronounced drop in homicides in the current year.

At a media briefing in August, the President declared: “We have a plan, we have tracking of the strategy, and there is specific tracking locality by locality in certain cases. The strategy is effective. And we have to persist at it every day.”

The central components of Sheinbaum’s safety plan involve:

• Strengthening Mexico’s domestic security force.
• Enhancing information gathering and investigative capabilities.
• Greater cooperation between various departments.

Expert Skepticism and Data Limitations

But, public safety experts urged caution that relying on homicide numbers to assess the situation of pacification was problematic. This is especially true in light of the rise in different criminal activities such as abductions.

“This would be positive news if this was a reduction, but I think we shouldn't just focus on the homicide data and say: ‘Alright, excellent,’” said Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an authority on Mexican cartels. “I would be tentatively optimistic.”

As reported by the policy research thinktank Mexico Evalúa, murders overall fell by more than 20% in the first 10 months of the current year versus the identical timeframe last year. However, disappearances have increased by 15% and in certain regions have risen by up to 200%.

“Statistics on murders is no longer useful for estimating the situation of public insecurity,” stated Armando Vargas, a safety expert at Mexico Evalúa. “Firstly, we have law enforcement and investigators who lack the capacity or the inclination to properly identify and classify corpses. Secondly, organised [criminals] … have the capability to conceal violence through disappearances.”

Vargas pointed out that relying on monthly averages of everyday homicides was similarly problematic because it might mask periods when there were especially elevated levels of murders.

“Relying on the per-day average renders surges of violent crime invisible,” he concluded.

Detentions and Confiscations as Measures of Progress

Where the administration can highlight the success of its security strategy is on arrests and seizures. Almost 40,000 individuals were detained between last October and November 2025 for high-impact crimes, according to official figures. More than 20,000 guns were seized and 311 tons of drugs seized.

“The former US president can't claim President Sheinbaum of doing nothing, because actually she is doing a lot with these many thousands of arrests, many thousands of confiscations, and all the tactical degrading of criminal groups. It’s very in political terms advantageous,” commented Vargas.

Ongoing Unrest and Public Anger

However notwithstanding these efforts, Mexico remains beset by severe bloodshed, with several regions in the throes of cartel-driven conflict. Last month there was a prominent murder of a well-liked mayor in the region of Michoacan, among 10 local leaders killed in the past 12 months.

Weeks later, thousands of protesters demonstrated in the capital and throughout the nation to show their outrage at corruption and cartel violence.

“The federal government presents [data] in a manner to create a narrative of safety. From a political standpoint it’s very potent, from a social perspective it’s extremely questionable,” Vargas concluded.