One More Down:  Recent Violence in Juárez in Perspective

Juárez has seen a major jump in homicides this year.  During the first five months of 2018 there were 361 homicides, an average of 72 per month.  This compares with a monthly average of 64 per month during all of 2017, a monthly average of 46 in 2016, and 27 in 2015.  To put it into perspective, however, it is much lower than the monthly death toll of 174 in 2011 and 260 in 2010, when Juárez became the deadliest city in the world.

June of this year, however, was exceptionally deadly, with 179 homicides, surpassing the monthly average during 2011, and as of this afternoon (July 11) 49 persons have been murdered so far in July, for a total of 589 for the year so far.  While Juárez is no longer the most deadly city in Mexico (Acapulco and Cabo are much higher), the recent death toll should serve as a sobering incentive for the average hardworking drug operative in Juárez to put his or her affairs in order or, if possible, to leave the business altogether.  The vast number of homicides in Juárez can be traced back to close associations with the drug trafficking business.

A man was killed by gunfire late Tuesday night in a residential home in the Constitucion neighborhood near downtown Juarez, as reported in Diario de Juárez.  The name of the victim has not yet been established.  The man was shot in the patio of the home on Carlos Amaya and Manuel Goytia.  He is the 50th victim so far this month.