Mexican Border City Has the Country's Highest Levels of Perceived Insecurity

The city of Tapachula, a major transit point in Mexico's southern border, has reported the highest levels of perceived insecurity in the country, with organized crime competing to control drug and human trafficking routes from South America. According to the latest National Urban Public Safety Survey (ENSU) from Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), 9 in 10 Tapachula residents (91.9%) feel unsafe.

Local government data shows that Tapachula hosts around 60% of Mexico's migrant population, with irregular migration up 193% year-on-year in the first half of 2023, reaching over 712,000 people nationwide. This increased migration correlates with a rise in crimes against migrants, including extortion and human trafficking, as Teodoro Vázquez Castillo of Chiapas' Revolutionary Workers Federation told EFE on Friday:

"One of the factors is migration, and beyond that, I don't know if it brings a surge in drugs, trafficking of women, and extortion of migrants. All the northern gangs have come to operate in Tapachula, and I don't know if there's any authority that will put a stop to it"

The federal government, led by newly-elected President Claudia Sheinbaum, disputed claims of a "war" in the region after Catholic priest Marcelo Pérez, an activist for Indigenous people and farm laborers, was killed during the weekend in Chiapas, shot dead by two gunmen when he was in his van just after he had finished celebrating Mass.

"There is no war, I don't believe so, based on the information we have," said Sheinbaum during a press conference on Tuesday. "It is important to work to prevent a situation like this from happening again (Perez' homicide) and to avoid displacements, bring peace, and prevent the extortions and crimes that are occurring."

Yet, Luis Rey García Villagrán, director of the Human Dignity Center, told EFE that residents' distrust of law enforcement has only worsened security and human rights in the southern border. The activist claims that, since Tapachula has a fluctuating population of around 70,000 unregistered people from over 20 nationalities, corrupt police see fertile ground for extorsion.

On October 8, President Sheinbaum presented her administration's plan to combat violence and crime, vowing to strengthen the National Guard police force and boost intelligence gathering in a bid to reduce murders, kidnappings and extortion