The increase in investigation files for the crime of extortion may be linked to a decrease in the black figure due to the operations carried out, such as those of the National Strategy against Extortion says security specialist Armando Rodríguez Luna.
An example is the operation carried out in September in Acolman, State of Mexico, where five people suspected of being members of a criminal gang were arrested with the participation of the National Guard, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of Defense and local authorities.
“This generated greater confidence in the population that continued to be extorted to report it,” says the consultant, who has collaborated with organizations such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
For his part, Armando Vargas, coordinator of the Evalúa Security Program in Mexico, sees the increase in extortion cases as a consequence of a greater presence of organized crime.
“The increase in this crime, despite the very high levels of crime and impunity, is indicative of the expansion and deepening of what we call the criminal regime.
“What is the criminal regime? They are territories where organized crime groups establish rules of the game at a political, economic and social level to strengthen their control over local territories,” explains the Mexico Evalúa specialist.
In 2022 the black figure (crimes that are not reported) was 92.4% at the national level, while the impunity rate in 2023 was 93.6% at the national level and 98.4% in the crime of extortion according to a study by México Evalúa.
