Homicides Rise Over 15 Percent in Mexico in First Half of 2016 The Associated Press
go to original July 22, 2016

A man holds Mexico's flag during a protest against violence in Mexico City. The writing on the flag reads in Spanish '100,000 lives: assassinated, disappeared and displaced. Have you not been touched in the last six years? What are you made of?' (Alexandre Meneghini/AP)

Mexican government figures released Thursday say homicides rose 15.4 percent in the first half of 2016 from the same period of last year.

The 9,413 killings committed from January through June were also 6 percent higher than the number of homicides in the last six months of 2015.

While the figures remained below those for 2011, the peak year for violence during Mexico’s drug war, they marked a continuing rebound in killings. Almost all the progress that President Enrique Pena Nieto had boasted of in reducing Mexico’s violence has now been erased.

The current number of killings almost matches the first six months of Pena Nieto’s administration in 2013, when there were 9,502 homicides.

The drug-plagued state of Guerrero continued to lead Mexico in homicides, and big increases were seen in the state of Baja California, Michoacan and Veracruz.

Read the rest at The Spokesman-Review

Related: Mayor, Four People Shot Dead in Southern Mexico (Agence France-Presse)

Related: Fifth Family Gunned Down in 2 Weeks in Mexico (Associated Press)

Related: After Years of Decline, Mexico's Murder Rate is Heading Back to Peak Drug War Levels (VICE News)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!