Violence in Mexico hit new heights in the first quarter of 2019, with 8,493 murders recorded from January to March, according to official figures. According to the Executive Secretariat of the Public Security National System, that number represents a 9.6% rise on the same period in 2018.
Brazil had a record number of murders last year, with homicides rising 3.7% from 2016 to 63,880 according to a study released on Thursday, just months before a presidential election in which violence has become a key issue.
Violence hit a record peak in Mexico last year with over 30,000 murders — and it is not slowing down. More than 100 politicians alone have been killed in the lead-up to the country’s election this Sunday.
The parents of the 43 students kidnapped four months ago in the southern state of Guerrero say Mexico's attorney general has no scientific proof to support his assertion that the youths were killed and their bodies burned.
Violence in Mexico could thwart hopes of a budding shale boom, as oil and gas companies operating in Texas may think twice about moving south of the border.
Mexico holds an estimated 545 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas and 13 billion barrels of shale oil, but progress in developing those resources has been slow.