InSight Crime, 7/12/12
While Mexican authorities have dealt a blow to a powerful Guerrero-based gang, the state’s seemingly endless number of emerging gangs suggests that another will soon rise to take its place…
Authorities described the Guerreros Unidos as a criminal group operating in the north of Guerrero, a southern state along the Pacific coast, and in neighboring Morelos, which lies further inland. Previous reports of the gang’s actvities support this theory…
In terms of public security, Guerrero stands out from other states in a number of ways. According to Mexico’s National Public Security System, or SNSP for its initials in Spanish, Guerrero suffered 2,158 murders in 2011; through the first five months of 2012, the figure was 882. These figures gave the state a murder rate of 64 per 100,000 residents in 2011 and 63 thus far in 2012, comparable to the statistics for violent border states like Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.
