Narcoviolence kills over 5,000 in Mexico this year Share This /

Mexico's El Universal reported last week that the number of deaths by narcoviolence in 2009 surpassed 5,000 on Thursday morning, reaching 5,018 by the end of the day. With narcoviolence-related deaths already surpassing 5,000 in early September, it looks like 2009 is assured to be more violent than 2008 - which ended with 5,600 narcoviolence-related murders. The article in El Universal breaks down the numbers of narcoviolence-related deaths to show how fast narcoviolence in Mexico is increasing. Here are some of those statistics:

• Under Mexican President Felipe Calderón's government, there have been 13,599 murders related to organized crime;
• The most recent 1,000 narcoviolence-related deaths of 2009 occurred in 41 days (August 1 - September 10);
• During those 41 days, a minimum of 24 crimes/day were reported - or one crime per hour;
• The first 1,000 narcoviolence-related deaths of 2009 occurred in 51 days, the second 1,000 in 59 days, the third 1,000 in 58 days and the fourth 1,000 in 44 days;
• Of the most recent 1,000 deaths, 487 were in Chihuahua, specifically in Ciudad Juárez where the Juárez and Sinaloa cartels fight for control of trafficking routes across the border into the United States;
• In 2009, narcoviolence-related deaths has occurred all over the country, except in Tlaxcala and Yucatán;
• The two most violent days of 2009 were August 17th, with 57 deaths, and September 2nd, with 52 deaths.

If the narcoviolence-related death rate (1,000 deaths/41 days) continues at its current pace, the remaining months of 2009 could add almost 2,750 more deaths to the 5,018 already cited by El Universal.