Violence beyond perception | Article

Mario Luis Fuentes

Without security there will be no fourth transformation. The President of the Republic has repeatedly stated this. And he is right: bringing about structural change in our country requires peace as a necessary condition to ensure that everyone has access to the well-being and enjoyment of a society that allows for peaceful coexistence, the implementation of life projects and the protection of people’s lives, physical integrity and property.

With less than nine months until the end of the current administration, violence and crime rates are still a far cry from what they were in the country’s best moments at the beginning of this century; In this case, the indicator of intentional homicides is considered as a benchmark, which has become the main data for determining how much progress has been made or not made in the effectiveness of government policies to pacify Mexico.

Despite the above, in fact, premeditated murder is only one of the indicators that should be taken as a guiding axis for building a peaceful Mexico. There will undoubtedly be others of particular significance, especially those that represent a synthesis of other forms of violence associated with conditions of inequality and difference of all kinds, especially between women and men.

The above is worth emphasizing as it is counterintuitive when compared to the results published by INEGI as part of the National Urban Public Safety Survey (ENSU), which shows a significant decline in the perception of insecurity in urban areas in just over 70 cities in the region. a country.

When faced with such results, the question always arises: what is being measured and how questions are asked to measure what is being measured. And, if we take into account the data of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, we have an unstoppable increase in the number of complaints submitted to ministerial bodies in the field of femicide; in the category “Crimes violating the freedom and sexual security of the individual” (mainly simple and equivalent rape, sexual violence and sexual harassment) and in the category “Crimes against the family” (mainly domestic violence and gender-based violence).

It is not difficult to imagine the social significance of efforts to significantly reduce this type of crime, since they cause damage and harm to their victims, sometimes irreparably. And although these are crimes that need to be prevented, investigated and punished at the state level; It is equally true that there is no effective national strategy to target and build existing capacity and resources to make an urgent impact on the protection of girls, boys and adolescents in particular, and women in general.

Alarmingly, three areas have seen an accelerated increase in the number of complaints filed. And given that the black figure has not been reduced, it can be argued that, aside from the fact that, as superficially stated, “more are now being reported”, the reality is that available information shows that there is a significant increase in the number of cases and victims.

Indeed, official data shows that between 2019 and 2023 there were 4,665 murders of women investigated by government prosecutors in Mexico. During this period, the year with the fewest cases was 2023 with 827 cases; This figure is still very high when taking into account 2015, the oldest year for which comparable data is available, when 411 victims were reported; That is, even in the year with the lowest number of cases of this administration, there are 100% more cases than were recorded eight years ago.

On the second point mentioned, namely crimes that threaten sexual freedom and safety, the trend is also increasing. Indeed, from 2019 to 2023, this figure amounts to 347,132 victims of this type of crime. But unlike femicide cases, there was a significant increase each year from 2015 to 2023, from 31,170 investigation files in 2015 to 41,955 in 2018 (equivalent to a 34.6% increase).

In 2019, the first year of the current administration, the number rose to 51,310; in 2020 – 54,342; in 2021 – 69,512; in 2022, up to 82,715, and in 2023, a record number of research folders was reached – 89,253. To measure the magnitude of this trend, it is important to say that the data for 2023 is 112.7% higher than those recorded in 2018, the most recent the period of Pena Nieto’s reign, when the situation was already very serious; and 186.34% higher than registered in 2015.

Finally, in cases of crimes against the family, the number of criminal cases increased from 164,186 in 2015 to 215,052 in 2018; which represents an increase of 30.9% over these four years. In 2019, this figure was 239,219; achieving a 2023 record of 330,942 folders of research on the subject. This represents an increase of 53.88% compared to 2018; and 101.56% compared to 2015.

There is no doubt that Mexico is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of violence, which is reflected in homicide trends; but it has a dimension of special seriousness, which is synthesized in the data on crimes directed against assets, which, from the point of view of legal theory, are understood as those valuable assets that are legally inaccessible to the people themselves.

Without a doubt, one of the issues that will be seriously debated in the 2024 campaign is how we as a country are going to change these ethically shameful conditions that are causing even more outrage; and that for this reason they should be one of the top priorities of candidates leading the way in the race.

Researcher at PUED-UNAM