Mexico sees most violent weekend so far in 2022

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO CITY (AA) - Mexican authorities said Monday that the country registered 283 homicides during the last three days, making it the most violent weekend so far this year.

According to a daily report on homicides from the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection, the country reported 93 homicides last Friday, 107 on Saturday and 83 on Sunday.

With a daily average of 93 homicides, last weekend surpassed the daily average for the previous two years, which sits between 70 and 75 homicides per day.

Guanajuato, Jalisco and Michoacan were the states with the largest number of homicides reported.

While the western state of Jalisco reported the most homicides Friday, with 14 killings that day, Guanajuato in central Mexico exceeded that figure with 20 murders reported on Saturday.

On Saturday night, authorities in Guanajuato were alerted to gunfire in Irapuato municipality. Upon their arrival, they found six men and six women dead inside a bar.

It was the second shooting in Guanajuato reported within the past month. On Sept. 21, unidentified gunmen stormed a bar in Tarimoro municipality in Guanajuato, killing 10 people.

The latest spikes in organized violence recorded in the country, including shootings in San Miguel de Totolapan on Mexico's west coast, which left 20 people dead, including the town's mayor, have not driven Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to change his security strategy.

Lopez Obrador has said that his public security strategy has yielded positive results, often praising his peacemaking efforts with the slogan "hugs, not bullets."

However, since he became president in December 2018, over 34,000 homicides per year have occurred, with his administration reporting a slight slowdown in homicide rates while he pushes for the continuation of the military in public security tasks.

The Mexican Congress approved a bill earlier this month that will keep Mexico's military patrolling the streets, a move that has drawn concerns over the country's militarization of public security without a clear downturn in homicide rates.