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Homicide Rate in Mexico Showed Signs of Slowing Before Cartel Clash

Homicide Rate in Mexico Showed Signs of Slowing Before Cartel Clash

(Bloomberg) -- For all the backlash Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faces after the arrest and subsequent release of the son of the infamous drug lord El Chapo, data show that the country has made small progress on reducing homicide rates.

Murder fell for a third straight month in September, according to data released by the government late Sunday. While homicide remains 2.4% up this year compared to the same period last year, total murders have decreased to 2,825 in April, down from their June high of 3,006.

Mexican security forces continue to grapple with insecurity across the country after gun battles broke out across Culiacan, the capital of the northern Sinaloa state. The administration of Lopez Obrador has come under fire for its handling of the release of Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of former drug lord Joaquin Guzman. The public remains divided, with 45% of Mexicans agreeing with the decision to release Guzman, and 49% disagreeing, according to a telephone poll of 400 adults released by Mexican daily Reforma.

Despite a brief decline, Lopez Obrador’s security strategy -- which included creating a new, militarized national police force -- has yielded few results. September’s data release does not include high-profile October incidents including a shooting in the state of Guerrero that left one soldier and 14 civilians dead, or the murders of 14 police officers during an ambush in the state of Michoacan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Villamil in Mexico City at jvillamil18@bloomberg.net;Rafael Gayol in Mexico City at rgayol@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Carolina Wilson at cwilson166@bloomberg.net

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