International
Mexico has 20 of the 50 most violent cities in the world
The annual index of the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice of 2024, presented this Wednesday in the Mexican capital, determined that of the 50 most violent cities in the world, 20 are in Mexico, including the tourist Acapulco (south) and the border Tijuana (northwest).
“The maximum number of violent cities in Mexico in the ranking so far had been in 2019, with 19 cities,” said José Antonio Ortega, president of the organization, at a press conference.
Likewise, Ortega stressed that of the 10 most violent cities in 2024, seven are in Mexico.
Port-au-Prince, in Haiti, leads the index, with 139.31 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the ‘Ranking 2024 of the 50 most violent cities in the world’.
Then, five Mexican cities continue the list, starting with Colima (west), which in 2022 and 2023 had topped the world index, and in 2024 recorded 126.95 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.
Immediately, there are the Acapulco tourist resort, with a rate of 102.28 homicides; Manzanillo (west), with 92.17; Tijuana, border with the United States, with 91.35; and Ciudad Obregón (north), with 89.2.
In the top 10 are also the Ecuadorian Machala, the Mexicans Celaya and Zamora, and Puerto España, in Trinidad and Tobago.
In contrast, in 2024, the Honduran San Pedro Sula and Distrito Central left the classification, which for several years were in the first places on the list.
“In this way, no city in Central America is among the 50 most violent in the world,” said René Bolio Halloran, of the Mexican Human Rights Commission.
Bolio pointed out that “to obtain these remarkable achievements, the respective governments did not use excuses, such as poverty, high drug consumption in developed nations or that criminals obtain weapons from the United States.”
“Nor did they resort to negotiating with those who caused the violence, nor did they follow the policy of ‘hugs, not bullets’, or something similar,” he added, referring to the phrase of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024).
Mexico closed 2024 with a total of 30,057 intentional homicides, a year-on-year increase of 1.2%, equivalent to 344 more cases compared to the 29,713 recorded in 2023, according to data from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP).
Among the violent cities in Mexico that re-entered the list is Culiacán (state of Sinaloa), where last September a war broke out between the main factions of the homonymous cartel, after the capture of capos Ismael ‘el Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López in the United States.
The Mexicans Chilpancingo, Villahermosa and Tapachula also entered, and remained on the list, Cuernavaca, Ciudad Juárez, Uruapan, Irapuato, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, León, Cancun and Morelia.
Followed by Mexico, the countries with the most cities in the index were Brazil (8), Colombia (6), South Africa (5), the United States (5), Ecuador (3), Haiti (1), Jamaica (1) and Trinidad and Tobago (1).
In addition, 45 of the 50 cities are in the American continent and the rest in Africa.
For his part, Horacio Rodríguez, of Misión Rescate Mexico, explained that the 50 cities total 40,198 homicides.
He added that this amount of homicides represents 8.2% of the 490,000 that the World Health Organization estimates to occur worldwide, while the sum of inhabitants of these cities represents only 0.91% of the world position.
Throughout Mexico, he said, the average homicide rate in 2024 “is nine times higher than the global average rate of 6.2, which gives an idea of the concentration of violence in the cities of this ranking.”
Finally, Ortega clarified that violence due to the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine is not included; and it does not include the missing people, which in 2024 in Mexico were more than 13,000, according to official figures.
International
Maduro urges UN to intervene for venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador
Nicolás Maduro, who was sworn in for a third term in January following his controversial re-election, urged United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to intervene on behalf of Venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador after being deported from the United States.
During a broadcast on the state-run Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), Maduro claimed these Venezuelans were “kidnapped”, forcibly disappeared, and held in “concentration camps.”
He also criticized U.S. President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for failing to release the list of migrants deported on March 16, who were allegedly accused of belonging to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, which originated in a Venezuelan prison.
“Reports say there are 238 Venezuelans kidnapped in prisons, in concentration camps, in El Salvador. A week after they were taken and thrown into these camps, neither the U.S. government nor Nayib Bukele have published the list of those they have kidnapped in El Salvador,” Maduro stated, calling it a “forced disappearance.”
International
Canada updates U.S. travel advisory amid immigration policy changes
In a coordinated action with several European allies, Canada has updated its travel advisory for citizens visiting the United States, citing changes in immigration policies and law enforcement under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Finland have issued similar warnings, highlighting stricter border screenings, tighter visa restrictions, and new federal guidelines that particularly affect transgender and non-binary travelers.
These advisories reflect growing diplomatic concerns over how the recent U.S. policy shifts are impacting foreign visitors, especially tourists and long-term travelers. Additionally, this marks a rare instance in which multiple NATO allies publicly warn their citizens about travel to the United States.
International
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to meet with Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on friday
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will meet with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum next Friday.
According to statements made to Fox News, the Trump administration official will travel this week to El Salvador, Colombia, and Mexico.
On Wednesday, Noem is scheduled to meet with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, with whom she will tour the mega-prison built to detain gang members in the country.
On Thursday, she will visit Colombia, where she will hold talks with President Gustavo Petro and top law enforcement officials.
On Friday, Noem will be in Mexico, where she is expected to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente.
The meetings with Latin American leaders take place amid ongoing U.S. pressure on regional governments to accept deported migrants.
Maduro urges UN to intervene for venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador
Canada updates U.S. travel advisory amid immigration policy changes
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