Homicide rate drops in January in San Luis R.C.

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. – After reaching its highest level in five years in 2022, this city’s homicide rate dropped in January.

The city next to Yuma County recorded eight killings last month, 18 fewer than in the same month in the prior year and down from the monthly average of 13.5 in 2022.

Authorities attribute the violence mainly to drug trafficking organizations and other criminal groups competing for control in San Luis Rio Colorado and smaller surrounding communities that make up the municipality.

The homicide statistics were provided by Sonora’s Public Safety Ministry. No reasons were cited for the drop in killings in January, but this month began with discoveries of bodies of two new slaying victims.

On Feb. 2, an unidentified male was found dead, with his hands and legs bounds, in an unpopulated area on the south side of the city.

And Feb. 9, a headless body was found along a rural road southeast of the city. The victim, whose hands and legs were also tied, is believed to be a male in his 30s.

San Luis Rio Colorado began 2022 with 26 homicides recorded in January. The city ended the year with a tally of 162, homicides, the highest annual total for at least the five previous years. The city recorded 139 slayings in 2021.

Security concerns have lead the city to sign an agreement with Mexico’s national guard to donate city-owned land at El Golfo de Santa Clara, Son., for a garrison to house 30 guard personnel. The garrison will be located at the entrance to the fishing village that is also a popular tourist destination on the Sea of Cortez.

San Luis Rio Colorado Mayor Santos Gonzalez Yescas said on social media that details of the garrison are still being worked out.

The guard, created in 2019 by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, absorbed units of the nation’s federal police and military police and was given a law enforcement mission, including fighting drug cartel violence.