Mexico's homicide rate has seen a surge within the last month. Figures by the government show that killing-related crime rose above 8% from February to March, going from 2,766 to 3,000 homicides, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Federal authorities suspect that this rise in violent crimes can be attributed to social isolation and widespread shutdowns against the pandemic.

A Rise in Violent Crimes

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador held the drug cartels accountable for the rise in criminality. Also, he believes that these criminal organizations who continued to fight over turf and routes in drug-trafficking accounted for most of the crime rate.

"They're fighting each other constantly," the president said, referring to the drug cartel rivalry that was widespread in the country.

The homicide rate was highest in Guanajuato, with 1,163 cases of violent crime from the beginning of the year.

Most of the killings happened in the wealthy, industrialized state of Guanajuato, and so Lopez Obrador was convinced that violence would persist even in areas of economic growth. He said that despite that, Guanajuato was flourishing economically, and it was the state with the most violence. He added that the root of the problem was inequality.

"For a long time, factories, assembly plants, the automotive industry, auto parts have set up shop there. There are plenty of jobs [in Guanajuato]," he said. "Growth is not synonymous with welfare."

Since the beginning of the Lopez Obrador administration, federal authorities followed through the projects that were aligned with his post-neoliberal model.

The president acknowledged that their efforts were not made in vain, for he had not seen so many people destined to serve the low-income population.

"We said, 'violence cannot be fought with violence,'" Lopez Obrador said. "We say 'Peace and tranquility from the fruits of justice.'"

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Criminal Groups Taking Advantage of the Pandemic

While the federal forces are either busy handling the healthcare systems or Lopez Obrador's infrastructure projects, only a few remain to deal with the rising criminality, which was, despite its predictability, larger and more far-reaching than expected.

Lopez Obrador repeated time and again the pressure to put on national social programs to guide as many of Mexico's youth as possible so that they will not be misled into recruitment by local criminal groups. The latter target young people from vulnerable communities.

According to Reuters, there is currently a $10 million bounty for the arrest of Nemesio "El Mancho" Oseguera Cervantes, the head of the powerful criminal syndicate, Jalisco New Generation cartel. The Drug Enforcement Agency reported that the organization has a strong presence in 24 national states by shipping illegal drugs to the U.S.

Lopez Obrador's political platform was grounded on the foundation of solving poverty, inequality, and corruption. Now, during the pandemic, it was difficult to see through to the decline in violence, as he previously expected.

The destination of the national budget is funded explicitly for specific projects, and Lopez Obrador is reluctant to spend any more than he has to during this time.