Mexico's government said the country's homicide rate has fallen to its lowest level since 2016, with President Claudia Sheinbaum and Security Minister Omar García Harfuch presenting figures showing a steep decline in killings since she took office. The data was outlined at one of Sheinbaum's daily morning news conferences as officials reported on the past month's security operations.
According to the Security Ministry, Mexico recorded an average of 44.3 homicides per day in May 2026, a reduction of roughly 49% from the average of 86.9 daily killings in September 2024, the month before Sheinbaum was inaugurated. Officials described it as the lowest homicide rate for the January-to-May period in a decade.
Sheinbaum has put the overall reduction in intentional homicides at about 46% between September 2024 and May 2026, casting the trend as evidence that her administration's strategy — built around intelligence work, arrests of high-value targets and closer coordination between federal and state forces — is taking hold.
García Harfuch said authorities have detained large numbers of suspects in high-impact crimes, with the government citing 56,134 such arrests as of late May. In his monthly report he pointed to recent operations, including the capture of individuals subject to Interpol red notices and the detention of alleged Sinaloa Cartel members in Chiapas.
The figures land amid sustained pressure from Washington, which has pushed Mexico to do more against drug trafficking and fentanyl flows. Sheinbaum has sought to demonstrate results on security while resisting US measures she views as infringing on Mexican sovereignty, including in extradition disputes.
Some analysts have urged caution in interpreting the numbers, noting that a fall in recorded homicides can coincide with rising cases of people reported missing, and that methodology and reporting lags complicate year-on-year comparisons. The government has defended its data as drawn from official daily records.
Even with those caveats, the downward trend in killings marks a notable shift for a country that endured record violence in recent years, and it has become a central plank of Sheinbaum's public messaging as she nears the two-year mark of her term.
Officials said they would continue publishing monthly security updates, and that sustaining the decline would depend on maintaining the pace of arrests and inter-agency coordination through the rest of the year.