Mexico’s new President Claudia Sheinbaum is using her first 100 days in office to try to lower homicides and loosen the grip of organized crime groups that control swaths of the country, extort businesses, smuggle drugs and kill with impunity.

Among Sheinbaum’s top efforts to “pacify the country” will be a push to slash killings in the country’s 10 deadliest cities, including Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border, according to a presentation of the strategy seen by The Wall Street Journal. She is also planning new efforts to combat the smuggling of the deadly drug fentanyl, which kills tens of thousands of Americans a year, the presentation says. 

In a graphic display of the violence that Sheinbaum must deal with, the mayor of Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, one of Mexico’s most violent states, was assassinated Sunday, officials said. The newly elected mayor, Alejandro Arcos, was the second Chilpancingo official to be killed in the last three days, the probable victim of one of two violent gangs that control the city. “It is a state totally dominated by organized crime,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexico City security expert. “It’s a jungle. What the criminals are saying to authorities is: We rule here.” 

Read it all.

Inside Mexico’s New Plan to Take On Cartel Violence https://t.co/KTlyIIZqZK

— Alicia A. Caldwell (@aacaldwellLA) October 7, 2024

Ascencio’s diocese has been hit hard by drug cartel violence, something highlighted by a recent visit to the besieged town of Aguililla by Archbishop Franco Coppola, apostolic nuncio. The bishop expressed bewilderment at a mayoral candidate in Michoacán appearing on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s wanted list.

“In my diocese … it’s very likely there’s complicity between organized crime and those exercising political power,” Ascencio said. “They have told me that they’re overwhelmed by the crime situation and security is not their duty; it’s something for the federal government.”

In this election cycle, the bishop said more candidates have sought him out for meetings than in past years. He notices that “they haven’t taken reality into account.”

“What’s not seen is that power in not in the hands of legitimate rulers,” he said. “Power in many places is held by organized crime. It seems like the political sector is at the service of organized crime.”

Read it all.

Bishop of Apatzingán, Michoacán: “What’s not seen is “Power in many places is held by organized crime. It seems like the political sector is at the service of organized crime.”
https://t.co/fJ12jSxwU7

— David Agren (@el_reportero) May 11, 2021

To Mexico now where the death toll from last week’s earthquake has climbed to well over 300. Structures have been damaged throughout central Mexico, including more than 150 churches. That’s according to the country’s archdiocese. Hardest hit were churches in the state of Puebla, the epicenter of the quake. NPR’s Carrie Kahn sent this report from the town of Cholula.

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: In the center of town sits Cholula’s ancient pyramids said to be the widest in the world. It’s never been fully excavated, but to get to what is visible involves a steep climb.

Fifty-three, 54, 55 – I’m climbed at the top of Cholula’s ancient pyramid where the Church of the Remedies sits on top of the pyramid. Two of the beautiful churches’ domes have collapsed, and they’re not letting us go to the top. Instead, they’re holding mass outside.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Speaking Spanish).

KAHN: Dozens of parishioners have made the climb in search of solace in Sunday mass.

GERARDO LOPEZ RAMIREZ: (Singing in Spanish).

KAHN: Gerardo Lopez Ramirez is the church’s organist and tenor. He says his town is in mourning.

Read it all.