Pena Nieto has been unable to decrease homicides

MEXICO, D.F. (Apro).- Enrique Pena Nieto has been unable to lower the crime statistics involving homicides the way he proclaimed in his presidential campaign in 2012 and during the first months of his administration.

The Federal Executive began his administration on December 1, 2012, with the promise that "in one year" we would begin to see the results of the so-called strategy against organized crime, violence and insecurity. Therefore, there would be a hypothetical "decrease" of crimes that most affect Mexicans, like homicides, intentional as well as unintentional ("dolosos" and "culposos").

Faced with a lack of hard facts that would support Enrique Pena Nieto's statements, his government prefers to lead a media crusade, repeating the same long-winded speech, adhering to the premise that, "If a lie is repeated enough, it ends up becoming the truth", much loved by propagandists of totalitarian states.

Enrique Pena Nieto as well as Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, the Secretary of the Interior, have clung to that idea and use in a tiresome manner in whatever forum they appear to erase by decree the dead bodies that appear every day in urban and suburban areas of the Mexican cemetery, anything from hanging bodies to decapitated ones, those unearthed from unmarked graves or stuffed in the trunks of cars, incinerated and dismembered, flayed or even with the coup de grace.

When the Federal Executive attended the Davos Forum in January of 2013, he declared that "there has been a real decrease in the number of homicides that are committed in our country, a decrease of practically 30% in homicides tied to organized crime, which gives us hope". Then Osorio Chong stated flatly on July 29, 2014, that, "violence has been reduced to its minimum expression."

These are the narratives that Pena Nieto's people keep repeating in the days prior to the second annual government report.

Enrique Pena Nieto's administration is already bloodier that his predecessor Felipe Calderon Hinojosa's 's administration. Official statistics confirm this.

To begin with, according to the National Public Security System (SNSP: Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica), during the first 20 months of the Pena Nieto Government, from December 1, 2012, to July 31, 2014, there were 57,899 criminal investigations initiated (to investigate)  accidental ("culposos", or negligent or unintentional) and intentional homicides ("dolosos"), while during the first 20 months of the Calderon administration (from December 1, 2006, to July 31, 2008), the number was 43,694; in other words, the PRI government surpasses the PAN government by 14,205 homicides, intentional as well as accidental.

According to the Executive Secretariat of the SNSP, during the first 20 months of the Pena Nieto government, there were 29,417 criminal investigations initiated for intentional homicides, although  in the first 20 months of the Calderon administration, there were 18,451 criminal investigations initiated for the same violations.

During the last 20 months of the Calderon presidency, the SNSP reported officially 37,421 "criminal investigations" for intentional homicides.

As it has been documenting these past few years, Semanario ZETA (ZETA Weekly) investigated the number of criminal homicides during the first 20 months of Enrique Pena Nieto's government.

Employing a methodology that compares information gathered from various prosecutors' and district attorneys' offices ("procuradurias" and "fiscalias"), newspaper archives or records of civil organizations, investigative services and local forensic institutes, ZETA documented that from December 1, 2012, to July 31, 2014, there were 36,718 intentional homicides, a number that includes "executions", "confrontations", "homicide assaults", homicides resulting from retail drug sales, and even the so-called "crimes of passion" using a large caliber firearm or with a coup de grace. The hard facts documented more than the 29,417 criminal investigations the SNSP reports for the same period for these offenses.

During the Calderon administration, the National Institute on Statistics and Geography (INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas y Geografia) reported with punctuality all homicides in the country; however, in the Pena Nieto administration, it reports fewer criminal homicides than are reported by the prosecutors and district attorneys for the states. For example, on July 23, 2014, in its news bulletin No. 301/14, INEGI reported only 22,732 intentional homicides. The Institute explained that these were "preliminary numbers with a cut off date of July 10, 2014, because the process for generating the statistics was still ongoing," but the Pena Nieto government is already using the statistic to proclaim the alleged 30% decrease in murders.

By using as its principal sources the various prosecutors  and district attorneys, forensic institutions and public ministries, ZETA documented that, in fact, there were 23,850 homicides in 2013. In other words, INEGI did not report at least 1,118 intentional homicides that year.

ZETA researched each of the states to identify those in which the prosecutors and district attorneys reported the total number of homicides, in contrast with the lower statistics that INEGI reports. The result was surprising: In Jalisco, there were 1,584 murders in 2013, not 1,485 as was reported by INEGI on July 23. In so many words, the Institute did not take into consideration at least 90 intentional homicides that year.

In Baja California, using information obtained from the Security Council, ZETA documented that in 2013, there were 865 intentional homicides committed, while INEGI only reported 770. That is to say, the Institute did not report at least 95 murders that year. The SNSP reported 775 criminal investigations of intentional homicides, in fact, more criminal investigations than (the number of) intentional homicides, even while considering that a file may involve two or more victims....Continues on next page

Another clear example is Michoacan: information compiled from the state government and newspaper archives revealed that in 2013, there were 1,415 deaths by homicide in that state, but INEGI reported that there were only 916.

With respect to Sinaloa, state authorities reported 1,292 intentional homicides committed in 2013, while INEGI reported only 1,200.

Thus, in this manner, systematically, INEGI is already reporting fewer homicides in the current administration than the prosecutors, district attorneys, public ministries and forensic institutions.

While the government of Pena Nieto continues with its campaign of a "decrease in the incidence of crime", "homicides are down" or, like Osorio Chong says, "violence has been reduced to its minimal expression", and while INEGI is no longer reporting the total number of murders, "accidents" are increasing at the same time .

For example, during the first 20 months of the Calderon administration, there were 25,243 criminal investigations initiated on unintentional homicides, that is, accidents, while during the first 20 months of the Pena Nieto government, that number increased to 28,482. In other words, Pena Nieto surpassed Calderon with 3,239 "accidents".

In addition, during the last 20 months of the PAN administrations,  the SNSP reported 26,333 investigations of unintentional homicides and as noted above, during the first 20 months of the PRI administration, that number increased to 28,482. In other words, during the 20 months prior and the 20 months after the change in the color of the Federal government, accidental deaths increased by 2,149.

After an exhaustive investigation in each of the states, Semanario ZETA documented 36,718 intentional homicides during the first 20 months of the Pena Nieto government, from December 1, 2013, to July 31, 2014.

The State of Mexico, governed by PRI governor Eruviel Avila, is the leader in cadavers. This weekly journal documented that the state governed by Enrique Pena Nieto from 2005 to 2011 reported 4,876 intentional homicides during the first 20 months of the PRI government.

The second most violent state is Guerrero, with 3,301 homicides; Chihuahua is next with 3,062; then Michoacan, with 2,403, and in fifth place is Jalisco, with 2,385.

One must keep in mind the zone that encompasses the State of Mexico, Guerrero, Michoacan and Jalisco concentrates 12,965 intentional homicides, a number that represents 35% of the 36,718 total.

Information gathered by this weekly journal from state prosecutors and district attorneys reveals that Acapulco is the most violent city, with 1,371 intentional homicides during the first 20 months of the Pena Nieto government, while the Federal District is in second place, with 1,267 during the same period.

The municipality of Tijuana, or the "model city" for Calderon as well as for Pena Nieto, continues in third place, with 897 homicides committed during the first 20 months of the Pena Nieto government, while Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua) is the fourth most violent city, with 779 intentional homicides during the same period, and in Ecatepec , State of Mexico, intentional homicides rose to 769.