2017 Juárez Homicide Rates Inching Back Up

Diario de Juárez reports preliminary homicides for the city  in 2017 total around 772, including eight on New Year's Eve, up from 546 last year, 322 in 2015, and the highest since 2011.  Should you skip your annual visit to the dentist?  Probably not.  In 2016 there were 762 homicides in Chicago, by comparison.  While the homicide rate per 100,000 population is high in Juarez (52), it is even higher in St. Louis (60), our most homicidal city, and about the same as Baltimore (51).  Acapulco has a homicide rate of 113, Caracas has a rate of 130, and even Tijuana (53) is higher, just barely, than Juárez (thank God for Tijuana!).  So why the surge in violence in Juaritos in the past few days?  Probably because a surge in homicides is normal in December, when the books are closed on delinquent accounts in the complicated business of running a drug cartel.  Things have been a lot worse.  in 2011 there were 2086 homicides and in the record year of 2010 the tally was 3115.  Happy New Year.