Violence increases in four first-time Morena governed States

Guerrero, Michoacán, Sonora, and Zacatecas have something in common, all are being governed by Morena for the first time: but they also have in common being four of the nine most violent states in the country and that, together with Baja California, at the beginning of 2022 concentrate one out of every three intentional homicides, reported Expansión Política.

The abandonment of 10 bodies in front of the Government Palace in Zacatecas, the discovery of four corpses in the municipality of Tingüindín in Michoacán, a massacre in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, and the murder of four community police officers and three alleged criminals in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, are some postcards of violence that have occurred in the states where Morena arrived after the June 2021 elections.

The political alternation in these states has not helped to pacify the situation. According to figures from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), in the country there were 33,308 intentional homicides in 2021, of which 10,654 (31%) were registered in Michoacán, Zacatecas, Guerrero, and Sonora, today governed by Morena, as well as in Baja California, a state in which the party founded by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador governs.

In some of these states, the incoming governors appointed military or marines as secretaries of Public Security, but according to experts such as Luis Sánchez Díaz, a researcher at Causa en Común, the militarization of these tasks is not producing results.

“These types of strategies have not worked and, despite the fact that there are no results, (the authorities) keep trying. They consider that having a military person in charge of security works, but we know that it is not so, it is not working,” the specialist maintains.

Although between three and six months have passed since the arrival of the new governors in these states where violence continues at a steady pace, Luis Sanchez Diaz points out that the homicides in their states are now their responsibility as a result of their acts or omissions, and not the responsibility of past administrations.

“From day one when they took office, they are responsible because they have the tools to do things differently. However, we see that security is addressed as a political problem and it should not be like that; security is a social problem that must be addressed in a multifactorial way, so each of the factors must be addressed,” he refers.

“There could come a time when our country is in a failed situation, it cannot be allowed that criminals are acting so lightly as they have done in Zacatecas, Veracruz, Michoacán, Guerrero, Sonora, Durango, Guanajuato. The insecurity situation is tremendous,” he warned.

TYT Newsroom