01/13/12– The Citizen Council for Public Safety and Justice (Consejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Pública y la Justicia Penal) recently released the 2011 list of the 50 most violent cities in the world. 12 Mexican cities were included on the list while five were in the top ten, including Ciudad Juárez, Acapulco, Torreón, Chihuahua, and Durango. From the lists released in the past years, Monterrey and Veracruz have been added, while Tijuana, Matamoros, and Reynosa have no longer been included.
After being ranked number one amongst the 50 most violent places in the world for the past three years, Cuidad Juárez has dropped to second place behind San Pedro Sula, Honduras. During 2011, 159 homicides took place in San Pedro Sula for every 100,000 inhabitants, while Cuidad Juárez trailed by a mere 11 homicides at 148 assassinations for every 100,000 inhabitants.
Despite the Attorney General’s recent announcement that the death rate in Mexico has gone down in recent years, violence continues, especially in Cuidad Juárez, even though it has been surpassed by San Pedro Sula. For example, on Thursday, January 12, the same day that the Citizen Council released its report on the most violent cities, a man was assassinated in front of an elementary school in Ciudad Juárez. The unidentified man was shot nine times; both the attackers and the motive are unclear. According to CNN Mexico, 18 homicides have taken place in Cuidad Juarez since the start of 2012.
Sources:
Jiménez, Eugenia. “San Pedro Sula, la ciudad más Violenta.” Milenio. January 13, 2012.
“SPS entre las Ciudades más Violentas del Mundo.” La Tribuna. January 13, 2012.
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