Mexico’s president admits Chihuahua has ‘homicide problem’ during Juarez visit

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obador visited Juarez on Friday, holding a press conference at a military garrison, discussing how security is an ongoing problem in the state of Chihuahua after Juarez had its fourth deadliest year in history.

Crime data shows femicide - the systemic killings of women because of their gender - and robberies are on their way down, but those statistics are not the most reliable since people have to report those; carjackings are also going down and those are more reliable statistics because the insurance companies report them, Lopez Obrador said.

Even as various metrics show that violent crime in general is on its way down, Lopez Obrador admits that Chihuahua has a "homicide problem."

The state of Chihuahua saw almost 1,300 organized crime-related homicides last year.

Most of those nearly 1,300 were in Juarez, on top of almost 200 other murders not related to drug cartel violence.

Lopez Obrador, a long time critic of taking direct action against cartels, maintains he has a different plan: He wants to improve the socioeconomic situation in Mexico.

Even if these tactics do work their effects would only be seen in the long term, so for now he said security remains in the hands of local governments.

Lopez Obrador also said former Chihuahua governor Cesar Duarte, who has been wanted on corruption charges since 2017, will be extradited by the U.S. - but he did not say how long that process would take.