International
Mexico has 20 of the 50 most violent cities in the world
The annual index of the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice of 2024, presented this Wednesday in the Mexican capital, determined that of the 50 most violent cities in the world, 20 are in Mexico, including the tourist Acapulco (south) and the border Tijuana (northwest).
“The maximum number of violent cities in Mexico in the ranking so far had been in 2019, with 19 cities,” said José Antonio Ortega, president of the organization, at a press conference.
Likewise, Ortega stressed that of the 10 most violent cities in 2024, seven are in Mexico.
Port-au-Prince, in Haiti, leads the index, with 139.31 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the ‘Ranking 2024 of the 50 most violent cities in the world’.
Then, five Mexican cities continue the list, starting with Colima (west), which in 2022 and 2023 had topped the world index, and in 2024 recorded 126.95 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.
Immediately, there are the Acapulco tourist resort, with a rate of 102.28 homicides; Manzanillo (west), with 92.17; Tijuana, border with the United States, with 91.35; and Ciudad Obregón (north), with 89.2.
In the top 10 are also the Ecuadorian Machala, the Mexicans Celaya and Zamora, and Puerto España, in Trinidad and Tobago.
In contrast, in 2024, the Honduran San Pedro Sula and Distrito Central left the classification, which for several years were in the first places on the list.
“In this way, no city in Central America is among the 50 most violent in the world,” said René Bolio Halloran, of the Mexican Human Rights Commission.
Bolio pointed out that “to obtain these remarkable achievements, the respective governments did not use excuses, such as poverty, high drug consumption in developed nations or that criminals obtain weapons from the United States.”
“Nor did they resort to negotiating with those who caused the violence, nor did they follow the policy of ‘hugs, not bullets’, or something similar,” he added, referring to the phrase of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024).
Mexico closed 2024 with a total of 30,057 intentional homicides, a year-on-year increase of 1.2%, equivalent to 344 more cases compared to the 29,713 recorded in 2023, according to data from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP).
Among the violent cities in Mexico that re-entered the list is Culiacán (state of Sinaloa), where last September a war broke out between the main factions of the homonymous cartel, after the capture of capos Ismael ‘el Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López in the United States.
The Mexicans Chilpancingo, Villahermosa and Tapachula also entered, and remained on the list, Cuernavaca, Ciudad Juárez, Uruapan, Irapuato, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, León, Cancun and Morelia.
Followed by Mexico, the countries with the most cities in the index were Brazil (8), Colombia (6), South Africa (5), the United States (5), Ecuador (3), Haiti (1), Jamaica (1) and Trinidad and Tobago (1).
In addition, 45 of the 50 cities are in the American continent and the rest in Africa.
For his part, Horacio Rodríguez, of Misión Rescate Mexico, explained that the 50 cities total 40,198 homicides.
He added that this amount of homicides represents 8.2% of the 490,000 that the World Health Organization estimates to occur worldwide, while the sum of inhabitants of these cities represents only 0.91% of the world position.
Throughout Mexico, he said, the average homicide rate in 2024 “is nine times higher than the global average rate of 6.2, which gives an idea of the concentration of violence in the cities of this ranking.”
Finally, Ortega clarified that violence due to the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine is not included; and it does not include the missing people, which in 2024 in Mexico were more than 13,000, according to official figures.
International
Erin brings strong winds and storm surge despite weakening offshore
Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 2 storm on Tuesday but continues to pose a threat to parts of the U.S. East Coast with potentially dangerous flooding, according to meteorologists.
Although the hurricane’s eye is expected to remain offshore, experts are concerned about Erin’s size, as strong winds extend hundreds of kilometers beyond the storm’s center.
In its 18:00 GMT bulletin, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) lifted tropical storm warnings for the Bahamasand Turks and Caicos Islands, but kept them in effect for parts of North Carolina.
Erin was located several hundred kilometers southeast of North Carolina and was moving northwestward.
“This means there is a risk of potentially life-threatening flooding of 60 to 120 centimeters above ground level,” said NHC Director Michael Brennan.
He also warned of the possibility of destructive waves, combined with storm surge, that could cause severe damage to beaches and coastal areas, making roads impassable.
International
Three U.S. Warships deploy near Venezuela to combat drug trafficking
Three U.S. naval vessels are moving toward the coasts of Venezuela, according to international media reports on Tuesday, after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump is ready to combat and curb international drug trafficking.
Reports indicate that the ships will reach Venezuelan waters within the next 36 hours as part of a recent U.S. deployment aimed at countering international narcotics operations.
The announcement coincides with Leavitt’s statement that Trump is prepared to “use the full extent of his power” to halt drug flows into the United States. The naval deployment involves approximately 4,000 military personnel.
“The President has been clear and consistent. He is ready to use every element of U.S. power to prevent drugs from flooding our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela—it is a narco-terror cartel,” the spokesperson said during a press conference.
International
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
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