MEXICO is experiencing its worst ever murder rate with 94 killings each day amid a massive surge in violence between cartels.
The number of homicides has rocketed over the past four years with more than 3,000 people slaughtered in June alone — and over 17,000 in the first six months of this year.
If the current trend continues 2019 will beat the previous year’s record of 33,341 murders, which was 33 per cent more than three years ago.
Compare this to the total recorded last year in the UK, which has half Mexico’s population but only has 726 murder victims.
Crime levels are so dire the government has called the army in.
The rising death toll is the result of many cartels splintering into factions, which in turn are engaging in increasingly bloody battles over control of lucrative drug, theft, extortion and kidnapping rackets.
Security specialist Ricardo Márquez Blas told Mexico News Daily: “The last year of [the administration of] former president Enrique Peña Nieto was bad in terms of the crime rate but 2019 is on the path to being even worse.
“It’s important to understand that we’re doing worse in security than the worst year on record.”
The astronomical death toll comes as more and more British sunseekers flock to Mexican beaches, which are cheap and boast year round sun.
Half a million UK holidaymakers jet out there each year.
The Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean coast has the most popular resorts but as revealed by Sun Online hundreds of people are murdered here each year and tourists are increasingly being caught up in the bloodshed.
It’s important to understand that we’re doing worse in security than the worst year on record
Security specialist Ricardo Márquez Blas
In Cancun alone there was 540 murders last year which shot up from 205 killings in 2017.
In one 36-hour spell in April last year NINE PEOPLE were murdered there.
Four months later, eight bodies were found after a cartel murder spree – with two of the victims dismembered and found in separate plastic bags.
It is believed they were tortured, then burned before being chopped up into little pieces.
As previously reported, security experts told The Sun that ruthless enforcers from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel – now the strongest drug gang in the area – were forging frightening new ground.
Francisco Rivas, 45, who monitors cartel activity for Mexico’s National Citizen Observatory, said: “Now the new cartel members, like those from Jalisco New Generation, don’t respect the old rules. Something has changed.
“They attack rivals in urban areas and murders happen in tourist areas.
“They are not targeting the tourists, but they may fight a cartel rival if they see them out in the shops or eating and drinking in tourist areas.
“Jalisco New Generation is not only the biggest and the strongest cartel, but it is also the most violent cartel we have in Mexico.”
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