Gallery of Horrors: atrocities and high-impact events in Mexico

January-June 2023

This report presents events that can be classified as “atrocities”. It is important to underscore that these atrocities are “only” examples of a much wider gallery of horrors, since many are not reported by the media. Therefore, the relevance of this report is not in the accuracy of the numbers, but the scope and nature of the crimes that are reported.

For the purpose of these study, “atrocity” is murder with laceration or extreme abuse; the murder of three or more people; the murder of vulnerable people or of people with political interest; and/or acts of terrorism. There are events with comprise several types of “atrocity”. For example, on October 12, 2021, the remains of a girl were found in a clandestine grave in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. In total, three atrocities: a clandestine grave, a murder of a minor and a murder of a woman with extreme cruelty.

In summary, for the period January-June, 2023, at least 2,822 newspaper reports dealt with atrocities, with at least 3,285 events, and at least 6,460 victims. The following table classifies these crimes by type of atrocity:

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