The Daily Average of Homicides in Chiapas Has Fallen 64% Since the Start of the Current Administration

ByAlma E. Muñoz

This article by Alma E. Muñoz originally appeared in the September 11, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left-wing daily newspaper.

Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. In the nearly two years of the current federal administration, there has been a 64 percent drop in the daily average of homicides in the state, reported Marcela Figueroa, head of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System. At the VII Military Region, where the morning press conference was held, she explained that high-impact crimes also fell 43 percent, above all extortion, kidnappings, and femicides. Vehicle theft dropped 68 percent.

Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, said that from October 1 to August 31, 9,949 people were arrested, and 1,544 firearms and 18.7 tons of drugs were seized. He highlighted 101,907 operations by the joint institutional force, which have enabled significant arrests such as that of Roger Iradier “N,” alias “El Peque,” an operator of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Chiapas who was on Interpol’s red notice. He noted that from August 1 to September 11, 3.7 tons of cocaine and 2,459 liters of fuel were seized.

Eduardo Ramírez, the state governor, for his part highlighted the work of 800 members of the Pakal rapid-reaction force, and said that with crime-prevention programs, Tapachula and Tuxtla Gutiérrez left the top spots for insecurity and, in the case of security, “it has come to rank around number 40.” He stated that the prison population has grown, with nearly ten thousand people arrested, but the level of crime has fallen.

Among other figures, he mentioned 366 state and investigative police officers, as well as three commanders being prosecuted for criminal association.