The UN urges Mexico to monitor the increasing violence in the electoral process,

Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for safeguarding Mexican elections from violence.

Türk pointed out that in Mexico, along with Ecuador, Haiti, and Honduras, the prevalence of organized crime and gang violence, as well as other criminal organizations, has a serious impact on the lives and rights of millions of people.

He also stated that in some cases, punitive and militarized responses have led to serious human rights violations, which can further fuel violence.

In response to these comments made by the UN official, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated that they were an attack aimed at demonstrating that there is a lot of violence in the country.

“The High Commissioner is very, with all due respect, very biased; he is against us and colludes with those who want to show that Mexico is a very violent country,” affirmed the head of the Executive during yesterday’s press conference, March 4th.

According to information from the organization Data Cívica and researchers from the Program for the Study of Violence at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), between September 7, 2023 —when the 2023-2024 electoral process officially began— and February 27, 2024, a total of 16 murders against pre-candidates or former candidates for some elected position in the country have been reported.

According to Data Cívica’s data, up until the end of February, a total of 26 crimes were recorded against pre-candidates or candidates for this year’s elections.