Mexico Has The Highest Rate of Violence Against Public Officials In The World: Report

Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world for public officials, according to a new report published by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), an organization that tracks and analyzes incidents of political violence and protest worldwide.

ACLED documented 324 violent incidents targeting public officials in Mexico in 2024 — a 29% increase compared to the previous year. That spike puts Mexico ahead of countries that had active internal armed conflicts, including as Myanmar and Syria. The victims include mayors, city council members and employees of subnational governments.

In an interview with Proceso, Sandra Pellegrini, ACLED's lead analyst for Latin America, said the attacks are a "worrying indicator that in 2025, political figures, especially at the local level, will continue to be under threat." That has been effectively the case so far.

Several high-profile attacks have taken place in Mexico this month alone. On June 2, Edgar Fernando Salmerón Feliciano, a former secretary general of Chilapa de Álvarez, Guerrero, was fatally shot outside his home. Days later, on June 4, Salvador Bastida García, mayor of Tacámbaro, Michoacán, was killed alongside one of his security guards on the way to the town's main square. More recently, on June 17, Martha Laura Mendoza, the mayor of Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, was killed along with her husband in a separate attack.

These killings are part of a broader surge in political violence. A report by political consultancy Integralia found that at least 50 public officials were killed nationwide between January and March 2025.

Despite this, Pellegrini noted that the number of attacks on local officials during the first five months of 2025 is lower than during the same period in 2024, an election year marked by heightened violence.

"We cannot necessarily say that 2025 will be a more violent year, despite these recent incidents," Pellegrini told Proceso.

She added that ongoing power struggles and a reconfiguration of organized crime, including turf wars among Sinaloa Cartel factions, are contributing factors. These shifts are generating "greater risks" for public officials.

"They could become targets of armed groups seeking to strengthen their control over resources and positions of power at the local level," Pellegrini said.

According to ACLED, countries that held elections in 2024 experienced 63% more political violence on average compared to a 21% increase in countries without elections. In the Mexican state of Chiapas, for example, more than half of the political violence recorded in 2024 occurred during the campaign period.

ACLED also found that most violent incidents in Mexico were concentrated in states where criminal groups are competing for control, including Guerrero, Veracruz, Michoacán, Sinaloa and Guanajuato.

The report concludes that many of these attacks are intended to pressure authorities into favoring certain criminal interests, undermining rivals, and influencing police operations.

ACLED's 2024 Conflict Index identified Mexico as the most dangerous and violent country in the world without an ongoing conventional war.

The organization also found that Latin America and the Caribbean was the second most dangerous region globally for public officials, with 680 incidents of violence in 2024 — 47% of which occurred in Mexico.