Violence in Mexico City

"On a sunny afternoon this month, a group of gunmen drove into a slum in the north of Mexico City, the streets packed with shoppers and children leaving school. In plain sight, the killers lined three crack cocaine dealers against a wall and shot them in the head with AK-47 assault rifles. They then forced another two men into a black van and drove away past terrified onlookers." -Reuters

This striking picture is unexpected in Mexico City, which has successfully remained a peaceful place to live and conduct business even in the midst of highly publicized and violent turf wars between drug cartels in Mexico. Along the country's northern border, Ciudad Juarez holds the title of the most murderous city in the world in 2010 with a homicide rate of 133 per 100,000.  According to Reuters, the Federal District has avoided cartel violence because cartels have collectively agreed to a truce in the city.  But if the recent violent acts between La Familia and Las Zetas are the beginning of the end of this truce, this could have catastrophic consequences for the Federal District and Mexico's image as a whole.


Earlier this year, ThinkSolutions conducted an analysis of homicide rates in Brazil, Colombia, the U.S., and Mexico.  We found that while perceptions of violence in Mexico are high, many of the most populated cities have lower homicide rates than cities in the United States.  As you can see below, Mexico appears to be much safer than Brazil or Colombia, countries that receive significantly less negative publicity for violence.  

State/Department #	USA	Mexico	Brazil	Colombia
1	Massachusetts	Tabasco	Santa Catarina	Bolívar
2	Wisconsin	Coahuila	Piauí	Boyacá
3	Washington	Nuevo Leon	São Paulo	Cundinamarca
4	New York	Veracruz	Maranhão	Sucre
5	New Jersey	Hidalgo	Rio Grande do Norte	Bogotá
6	Virgina	Jalisco	Rio Grande do Sul	Atlántico
7	Ohio	Guanajuato	Minas Gerais	Santander
8	Texas	San Luis Potosi	Amazonas	Córdoba
9	Michigan	Federal District	Ceará	Tolima
10	Indiana	Mexico	Paraíba	Huila
11	California	Puebla	Goiás	Cesar
12	Pennsylvania	Tamaulipas	Bahia	Magdalena
13	Florida	Michoacan	Paraná	Caldas
14	Tennessee	Chiapas	Pará	Cauca
15	North Carolina	Chihuahua	Mato Grosso	Nariño
16	Arizona	Baja California	Distrito Federal	Norte de Santander
17	Georgia	Sonora	Rio de Janeiro	Risaralda
18	Missouri	Sinaloa	Pernambuco	Meta
19	Maryland	Oaxaca	Espírito Santo	Valle del Cauca
20	Illinois	Guerrero	Alagoas	Antioquia