Daily Murders in the nation Drop 37% During President Sheinbaum, Per Government Data

The mean count of per-day murders monthly in the country has decreased by more than a third since Head of State Claudia Sheinbaum assumed power, as stated by recent government statistics. Nevertheless, public safety specialists have cautioned that murder figures may not point to enhanced countrywide security.

Significant Reduction in Daily Numbers

Officials reported an mean of close to 55 murders a day in the month of November compared with almost 87 when Sheinbaum assumed the presidency in September. This announcement was shared by the chief of the country’s national safety agency, Marcela Figueroa Franco, during the president’s regular press briefing on Tuesday.

“The outcome in killings that we’ve had over these past months is extremely notable,” the President stated, noting that in November the lowest number of homicides were documented for any single November in the past 10 years.

Recent Background and Official Strategy

Intense drug cartel internal conflicts, combined with the administration's highly military operations to combat the cartels, have made Mexico’s murder numbers rise sharply in recent times. The figure peaked at a peak of 36,773 homicides in 2020, according to the country’s national statistics office.

That resulted in Mexico a murder figure over 4x higher than that of the United States. From that point, murders have been on the decline, falling to 33,550 the previous year. Claudia Sheinbaum has attributed her national security strategy for an ostensibly steeper reduction in homicides in the current year.

At a press conference in the summer, the head of state stated: “There is a strategy, there is monitoring of the strategy, and there is detailed monitoring locality by locality in some cases. The approach works. And we have to continue working at it daily.”

The central components of the President's safety strategy encompass:

• Reinforcing Mexico’s federal guard.
• Improving information gathering and investigative efforts.
• Greater cooperation between government authorities.

Analyst Caution and Statistical Limitations

But, public safety experts warned that relying on homicide statistics to paint a picture of peace was problematic. This is particularly true in light of the increase in different crimes such as forced disappearances.

“This would be excellent news if this were a decrease, but I think we shouldn't just focus on the murder data and think: ‘Alright, good,’” commented Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, an expert on Mexico's organised crime. “I would be guardedly positive.”

Per the public policy analysis organization Mexico Evalúa, homicides overall declined by over 20% in the first 10 months of the current year compared with the identical timeframe last year. But, missing persons cases have increased by 15% and in some regions have surged by as much as 200%.

“Data on homicides is no longer reliable for assessing the context of insecurity,” argued Armando Vargas, a security analyst at Mexico Evalúa. “Firstly, we have law enforcement and prosecutors who lack the capacity or the desire to accurately identify and classify corpses. Second, organized [criminals] … have the means to conceal violence through abductions.”

Vargas added that relying on month-to-month means of everyday homicides was similarly an issue because it could hide periods when there were notably high numbers of killings.

“Using the daily average renders surges of violent crime unseen,” he stated.

Arrests and Seizures as Measures of Success

Where the government can highlight the effectiveness of its security plan is on arrests and confiscations. Close to 40,000 individuals were apprehended between October 2024 and November 2025 for serious offenses, per government figures. More than 20,000 guns were confiscated and 311 tonnes of narcotics seized.

“Donald Trump cannot claim President Sheinbaum of doing nothing, because actually she is accomplishing a lot with these many thousands of detentions, thousands of confiscations, and all the operational weakening of organised crime. It’s highly in political terms advantageous,” commented Vargas.

Ongoing Unrest and Societal Anger

But despite these measures, Mexico continues to be grappling with severe bloodshed, with multiple states in the throes of cartel-related conflict. Recently there was a high-profile assassination of a well-liked local official in the region of Michoacan, one of 10 mayors murdered in the past 12 months.

A short time later, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Mexico City and across the nation to show their frustration at corruption and narco-violence.

“The federal government presents [data] in a manner to create a story of security. Politically it’s highly successful, from a social perspective it’s highly debatable,” Vargas concluded.