Long Considered a Safe Haven, Mexico City Is on Alert as Crime Rate Rises Monica Campbell - PRI's The World
go to original October 29, 2015

Photojournalists protest the murder of Rubén Espinosa, a photographer who fled the Mexican state of Veracruz for safety in Mexico City. On July 31, 2015, Espinosa and four women were executed in a Mexico City neighborhood, shocking reporters who have found safe haven in the capital. (Tomas Bravo/Reuters)

In Mexico, violence related to organized crime is often associated with other parts of the country, not necessarily Mexico City. It’s often called “the bubble.” La burbuja.

It’s a safe haven, you often hear. A sprawling metropolis of 20+ million, where the country's notorious cartels — the Sinaloa gang, Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel — are not felt so acutely. News of daytime shootouts, the discovery of mass graves, or severed heads left in water coolers with threatening notes come from places like Michoacán, Guerrero, Veracruz and, lately, Zacatecas.

Overall, the capital is still relatively safe, ranking far lower on the crime scale, compared to much of the country. But that safe haven status is being tested. Recent government statistics show that homicides in Mexico City are up 22 percent to date this year compared to 2014. That’s a return to 1999 crime levels, a particularly dark time for the city.

The murders happen many ways. Killings are connected to robberies, conflicts with cops and, in many cases, the apparent fight for control over the city — a hub for illicit business — by cartels big and small. Also, business owners are becoming more outspoken about what they claim is a rise in extortion.

Read the rest at PRI's The World

A recent article by Monica Campbell about the dangers facing journalists in Mexico appeared in the Nieman Reports in English and Spanish.

Related: Rise In Criminal Violence in Mexico City May be Linked to Drug Cartels (Forbes)

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