México state security strategy has slashed homicides in half: Wednesday’s mañanera recapped

Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds  📍Mañanera held in Toluca: President Sheinbaum took her Wednesday press conference to Toluca, capital of México state, Mexico’s most populous state with around 17 million residents. 📉 Homicides down sharply in México state: National Public Security System chief Marcela Figueroa reported an average of 2.8 homicides per day in the state in June, a 58% drop compared to September 2024. She said a “unified command” strategy launched in 15 high-crime municipalities last year contributed to the decline. 📅 Lowest homicide rate in 19 years: Figueroa said México state saw an average of 2.9 homicides per day in the first half of 2026, down 31% from 2025’s daily average and 68% below the 2013 rate. 👮 Over 3,300 arrests since Sheinbaum took office: Security Minister García Harfuch said 3,367 people have been detained for high-impact crimes in México state since October 2024, alongside seizures of 1,219 kg of drugs and 819 firearms. 🎯 No timeline on Iván Archivaldo Guzmán capture: Asked how close authorities are to detaining the Chapitos faction leader, García Harfuch declined to speculate, instead pointing to the recent killing of an alleged Culiacán plaza boss as a sign of progress against the faction. ⛓️ El Mayo’s prison transfer uncertain: Asked whether Ismael Zambada could serve his life sentence in a Mexican prison, García Harfuch said that would depend on whether Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office pursues extradition, though a transfer appears unlikely. Why today’s mañanera matters  President Claudia Sheinbaum held her Wednesday morning press conference in Toluca, capital of México state. Located in central Mexico, the state, commonly abbreviated as Edomex, is Mexico’s most populated with just under 17 million residents when the last census was conducted in 2020. A good number of the state’s 125 municipalities are located in the greater metropolitan area of Mexico City. They include two municipalities that are among the 10 most populated in the country: Ecatepec (1.64 million residents in 2020) and Nezahualcóyotl (1.07 million). México state is also home to popular tourism destinations including the Teotihuacán archeological site and the magical towns of Valle de Bravo and Malinalco. Security in the state — Mexico’s fifth most violent in the first half of the year in terms of total homicides — was a key focus at today’s mañanera, with officials presenting the latest data on homicides and arrests. Like the vast majority of Mexico’s 32 federal entities, México state has seen a significant reduction in its homicide rate this year. Thus, federal and state officials, including Governor Delfina Gómez, who attended today’s mañanera, have statistics to back up their argument that their security initiatives are working. There were an average of 2.8 homicides per day in the state in June, a 58% drop compared to September 2024. (Saúl López/Presidencia) Beyond the presentation of the latest security statistics, Sheinbaum’s Wednesday morning press conference was significant as Security Minister Omar García Harfuch responded to questions about Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, a Sinaloa Cartel leader and son of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and about Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a Sinaloa Cartel kingpin who on Monday was sentenced to life in prison in the United States. Homicides decline significantly in México state    National Public Security System chief Marcela Figueroa told reporters that the security strategy in México state has prioritized “intelligence, coordination and the territorial presence” of security forces. She noted that a specific “unified command” strategy was implemented in 15 high-crime municipalities in eastern México state in March 2025, contributing to a reduction in homicides in the state that borders Mexico City to the north, east and west. Figueroa presented data that showed that there was an average of 2.8 homicides per day in México state in June, a reduction of 58% compared to the daily average in September 2024, the final month of the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. She also reported that the homicide rate in México state in the first six months of 2026 was the lowest in the past 19 years. There was an average of 2.9 homicides per day between January and June, a reduction of 31% compared to the daily average across 2025. Compared to 2013, when there was an average of 9.1 homicides per day, the reduction in the first six months of this year was 68.1%. Figueroa noted there was an average of 116.1 reported high-impact crimes per day between January and June, a reduction of 19% compared to 2025. Among the offenses classified as high-impact crimes are murder, kidnapping, extortion and violent robbery. More than 3,300 arrests in México state since Sheinbaum took office  At the start of his presentation, García Harfuch said that “México state is an example of how the coordination between the three levels of government yields results.” The security minister also said that since the current government took office in October 2024, it has worked closely with the México state Attorney General’s Office and Security Ministry “to develop investigations, carry out joint operations and detain those who generate violence in the entity.” “This coordinated work,” García Harfuch said, has resulted in the arrest of 3,300 people who allegedly committed high-impact crimes. Data he presented showed that the exact number of people arrested between Oct. 1, 2024, and June 30, 2026, was 3,367. In addition, authorities seized 1,219 kilograms of drugs and 819 firearms in the same period. “These results reflect a strategy based on intelligence and investigation, but above all operational coordination that has allowed us to disrupt criminal structures, provide faster assistance [when crimes are committed], … detain priority targets and strengthen the safety of Mexican families,” García Harfuch said. Are authorities closing in on Iván Archivaldo Guzmán? A reporter for the newspaper Milenio noted that Milenio recently published a report stating that Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, leader of the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, is in a “situation of tactical vulnerability and extreme isolation.” “How close is the security cabinet to detaining Iván Archivaldo?” the reporter asked García Harfuch. Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, another of El Chapo’s sons, is a top target of security operations in Sinaloa. (DEA) “In order not to speculate and say how close or how far [we are from detaining Guzmán], I prefer to talk about the progress the security cabinet has made [in Sinaloa],” the security minister said. García Harfuch noted that an individual nicknamed “El Texas” — an alleged plaza chief in Culiacán for the Chapitos — was recently killed in a clash with the army in the Sinaloa capital. The slain man, identified in media reports as Cristhian Guadalupe Pérez Pérez, was one of the “main generators of violence in Culiacán and this entire area,” the security minister said, referring to Sinaloa. “He was a key person for this organization, for this criminal leader,” he said, referring to Iván Archivaldo and the Chapitos. García Harfuch said that federal security forces carry out operations in Sinaloa every week “to continue weakening” the Chapitos and “the other faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.” He was referring to the Mayos faction, which is engaged in a long-running and extremely bloody feud with the Chapitos that intensified after Joaquín Guzmán López, another son of El Chapo, kidnapped El Mayo in July 2024 and forced him onto a private plane that flew him to New Mexico where he, and Guzmán López, were detained by U.S. authorities. Could El Mayo be transferred to a Mexican prison?  The same Milenio reporter highlighted that Zambada’s lawyer, Frank Pérez, said in an interview that his client wants to serve his prison sentence in Mexico. He asked García Harfuch whether a transfer to a Mexican prison was possible. The security minister said that the Federal Attorney General’s Office would have to determine whether or not it would seek the extradition of Zambada, who was also wanted in Mexico when he was arrested in the U.S. two years ago. A transfer of the 76-year-old drug trafficker to a prison in Mexico appears extremely unlikely. Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said Monday that Zambada would “spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison, exactly where he belongs.” El Chapo, who founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Mayo and others, escaped twice from prison in Mexico, once in a laundry cart in 2001 and again in 2015 via a tunnel that connected to his cell. He is now serving a life sentence in the Florence Supermax prison in Colorado. By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected]) The post México state security strategy has slashed homicides in half: Wednesday’s mañanera recapped appeared first on Mexico News Daily