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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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Nearly 500 people have been killed in a surge of violence across Mexico in the first week of new President Claudia Sheinbaum's term.
The wave of killings includes a string of murders in Guanajuato and Sinaloa, as well as the assassination of a mayor and his secretary in a state capital.
Under Sheinbaum's administration, there were 488 murders reported within the first six days, averaging 81.3 killings each day, according to federal government data.
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If this level persists, October is on track to become Mexico's most violent month in the past four years.
Over half of the murders were concentrated in just six states. Only two Mexican states have not recorded any homicides in the first six days of October: Yucatán and Querétaro. In the remaining 30 states, at least one case has already been reported.
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The state of Guanajuato has seen 94 homicides so far, making it the state with the highest level of violence in the country—nearly three times more than the second-ranked State of Mexico, which has recorded 37 cases.
Following Guanajuato and the State of Mexico is Baja California, with 34 murders, and Sinaloa, with 32. One out of every four homicides reported in Mexico during the first week of Sheinbaum's six-year term occurred in Guanajuato.
The state of Guerrero saw the high-profile assassination of the newly appointed mayor of Chilpancingo, Alejandro Arcos, this weekend. Chilpancingo is a city in southern Mexico known for its violent crime and drug trafficking.
Authorities confirmed on Sunday that Arcos was killed just one week after his inauguration. Arcos began receiving threats almost immediately after assuming office last Monday.
The Guerrero state prosecutors' office released a statement confirming Arcos' death but did not provide further details about the incident. Images circulated on social media of what appeared to be his remains. According to Reuters, the decapitated head of the mayor was discovered on top of his car.
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Arcos' death marked the second official to be murdered in Guerrero's capital within less than a week.
"They were young and honest officials who sought progress for their community," Senator Alejandro Moreno, the head of Mexico's PRI political party, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Arcos' death comes days after Francisco Tapia, a newly appointed government secretary, was shot and killed.
Moreno urged the federal attorney general's office to take charge of the investigation into the murders of Arcos and Tapia due to "the situation of ungovernability in Guerrero."
In the run-up to Mexico's elections in June, at least six candidates for public office were killed in the state.
Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in the state of Guerrero alone. It is among six states in Mexico that the U.S. State Department has advised Americans to completely avoid.
Sheinbaum is set to present her government's new security policy later today to combat gang violence and drug trafficking amid a wave of cartel-related murders in various states.
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