Mexico’s Celaya is the most violent city in the world – report

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Mexican city of Celaya, in the central state of Guanajuato, leads with 109.38 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, the “2020 Ranking of the 50 most violent cities in the world”, presented this Tuesday by the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice.

In the presentation of the report, the organization said that of the 10 most violent cities in the world, 7 are Mexican: Celaya in first place, Tijuana in second, Ciudad Juarez in third, Ciudad Obregon in fourth, Irapuato in fifth, Ensenada in sixth and Uruapan in eighth.

St. Louis completes the top 10 in seventh place, Brazil’s Feira de Santana in ninth place, and South Africa’s Cape Town in tenth place.

Of the 50 cities in the index, 18 are in Mexico, 11 in Brazil, six in Venezuela, five in the United States, four in South Africa, two in Colombia, two in Honduras, one in Puerto Rico, and one in Jamaica, said José Antonio Ortega, president of the Citizens’ Council.

“Mexico has already been the world’s epicenter of homicidal violence for 2 years. It is not a coincidence. In 2019 and 2020, the worst crime control policy has been applied by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,” assured Ortega, one of those responsible for the study.

According to official data, the report is presented in a context in which Mexico has registered the 2 most violent years in its history, with 34,681 murder victims in 2019 and 34,552 in 2020.

The Citizen Council’s ranking is elaborated based on an analysis of official figures of intentional homicides in cities with 300,000 inhabitants or more that are not declared war conflict.

This is the fourth consecutive year in which a Mexican city is the most violent globally, Ortega lamented.

“What is the pattern that distinguishes them? It is that in these (Mexican) cities we see intense activity, stronger, of the armed militias of the criminal groups that are disputing the plaza, not only for drug trafficking,” the specialist explained.

The expert highlighted the contrast in Central America’s progress, pointing out that Guatemala City dropped out of the index in 2020. A year earlier, San Salvador was no longer included, while until 2014, the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula was in first place.

He also reported that the average rate of the 12 Brazilian cities included in the current ranking is 47.27 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, while the average rate of the 18 Mexican cities was 67.09.

The specialist attributed the increase to the “failed” security strategy of López Obrador, whom he accused of evading the control of criminal groups despite his militarization strategy.

“Today the country is more violent than when he received it, today we have more intentional homicides in the country than when he received the Presidency of this country (in December 2018),” he said.