Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 24 July 2018

Mexico sees 16 percent rise in murders in 1st half of 2018

By MARK STEVENSON fentanyl could be reducing
Associated Press the harvest of opium pop-
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Homi- pies, and that could be
cides in Mexico rose by 16 having an effect" on mur-
percent in the first half of der rates, Hope said.
2018, as the country again Farmers in Guerrero say
broke its own records for prices for opium paste
violence. have dropped to unprofit-
The Interior Department able levels because drug
said over the weekend cartels are substituting it for
there were 15,973 homi- cheaper, easier to obtain
cides in the first six months synthetic opioids like fen-
of the year, compared to tanyl.
13,751 killings in the same Still, not all of Mexico's re-
period of 2017. sort areas fared as well as
The number is the highest Baja California Sur.
since comparable records The Caribbean coast state
began being kept in 1997, of Quintana Roo, home to
including the peak year of resorts like Cancun, Tulum
Mexico's drug war in 2011. and Cozumel, saw homi-
At current levels, the de- cides rise by 132 percent,
partment's measure would to the equivalent of about
put national homicides 35 killings per 100,000.
at 22 per 100,000 popula- The state accounts for al-
tion by the end of the year most half of Mexico's na-
— near the levels of Brazil tional tourism income. And
and Colombia at 27 per Mexico has seen interna-
100,000. Forensics place numbers by evidence near body of a woman found dead between two cars tional resorts like Acapulco
Security analyst Alejandro parked outside a restaurant in Acapulco, Mexico, Sunday, July 22, 2018. and Zihuatanejo dragged
Hope noted "the figures Associated Press down by a reputation for
are horrible, but there are violence in the past.
some signs that are half- Authorities have attributed cide rate of about 80 per months of 2017 and a quar- "The can stop it (violence
way encouraging." the spate of killings to bat- 100,000. The Jalisco cartel is ter the number in the last in Quintana Roo), but they
For example, the growth in tles between the Jalisco also active there. half of 2017. Extra police have to take care of it very
homicides seems to be flat- and Sinaloa drug cartels The central state of Gua- and troops were sent in af- quickly," Hope said.q
tening out; murders were for control of trafficking najuato, home to the colo- ter warring drug gangs in-
up only about 4 percent routes in Baja California. nial city of San Miguel Allen- creased killings in the state
compared to the second The state is now Mexico's de, saw a 122-percent in- in 2017.
half of 2017. "The curve second most violent, with crease in homicides, which Hope noted that in about
may be flattening out," a homicide rate for the were running at a rate of half of Mexico's 32 states
Hope noted, though he first six months of the year about 40 per 100,000. Au- and the capital, murder
cautioned it is too early to equivalent to 71 murders thorities say much of the rates didn't rise much or at
tell. per 100,000 inhabitants. killing is related to gangs of all. "Now the growth is be-
Some areas, like the north- By comparison, Honduras fuel thieves who drill taps coming concentrated" in
ern border state of Baja Cal- and El Salvador — some into government pipelines. some areas.
ifornia, showed big jumps in of the deadliest countries But in Baja California Sur, It is hard to tell why growth
murder rates, which others in the world — have homi- home to the resorts like in homicide rates seem
saw sharp drops. cide rates of around 60 per La Paz and Los Cabos, a to have tapered off in his-
Baja California, home to 100,000. stepped-up police pres- torically violent states like
the border city of Tijuana, Mexico's most danger- ence apparently helped Guerrero, which is home to
saw 1,463 homicides in the ous state is Colima, on the reduce killings. The 125 ho- more than a dozen gangs
first half of the year, a 44 Pacific coast, which saw micides in the state were and is a main growing area
percent increase over the a 27-percent rise in kill- less than half the number for opium poppies.
same period of 2017. ings and now has a homi- registered in the first six "The growth in the use of