Lopez Obrador’s claim that Mexico is safer than U.S. is absurd — but some of its cities are | Opinion

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claim on March that Mexico “is safer than the United States” — shortly after the high-profile kidnapping of four Americans in the border city of Matamoros — is a classic example of how he deals with the nation’s rising violence crisis. He lies.

It’s a pity. Lopez Obrador could have made a much more intelligent argument in support of Mexico’s vibrant tourism industry. He could have said that Mexico attracted 66 million international visitors last year — more than most countries in the world — and that most of the country’s tourism destinations are perfectly safe to visit.

Instead, he falsely claimed that, “Mexico is safer than the United States.” Making things worse, he added that “There’s no problem with traveling safely around Mexico.”

In fact, Mexico’s murder rate is four times higher than that in the United States. While Mexico has 28 intentional homicides per 100,000 people, the United States has seven intentional homicides per 100,000 people, according to World Bank figures.

A recently released ranking of the world’s 50 most violent cities showed that nine of the top 10 are in Mexico, including Colima, Zamora, Ciudad Obregón, Zacatecas and Tijuana, according to the ranking by the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, a Mexican think tank. The only non-Mexican city in the top 10 list was New Orleans, which ranks No. 8.

It’s far from the first time that Lopez Obrador has not owned up to Mexico’s rising crime rates. He often denies that crime has worsened during his presidency.

But according to Mexico’s official data, 139,077 Mexicans have been murdered since Lopez Obrador took office in 2018, by some measures more than during his predecessor’s six years in office.

Steven Dudley, co-director of Insightcrime.org, a think tank specializing in organized crime in the Americas, told me the Mexican government has two agencies keeping track of murder statistics, which often makes counting confusing and allows Lopez Obrador to cherry-pick figures.

“But it’s undeniable that the numbers have been going up,” Dudley told me. “We can say with a great degree of certainty that homicide in Mexico under Lopez Obrador is higher than under this two immediate predecessors — and by a significant degree.”

And Lopez Obrador’s claim that, “There’s no problem with traveling safely around Mexico” is equally absurd. The U.S. State Department has a “do not travel” advisory for six of Mexico’s 32 states and recommends “reconsider travel” for seven others.

Many Mexicans don’t feel safe in their own neighborhoods. When a new Gallup poll asked Mexicans whether they feel safe walking alone at night in the area where they live, 52% answered “No,” Gallup pollster Gerver Torres told me.

To be fair, there has also been a barrage of misleading generalizations about crime rates in the United States.

In the wake of the Matamoros kidnappings, many in U.S. media made it sound as if the millions of Americans who travel to Mexico each year are in danger. Riding on the media frenzy, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said that he will propose legislation that would authorize U.S. military actions against the drug cartels in Mexico.

But the reality is that most Mexican tourism spots, such as Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen, Chichen Itza, Merida and Cancun, are safer than several U.S. cities. Cancún, for instance, has a lower homicide rate than New Orleans, Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis and Cleveland, according to the Citizen Council ranking.

When friends ask me whether it’s safe to travel to Mexico, I recommend they visit Mexico City, one of the most vibrant cities in the Americas, taking the same precautions they would take in any big city.

Mexico City has seen a big upsurge in the number of U.S. remote workers, who have moved there since the COVID-19 pandemic, lured, among other things, by the city’s lower cost of living, CNN reported. It is the fourth-rated destination for digital nomads, according to the nomadlist.com website.

A dispassionate look at Mexico’s murder rates shows that many cities and states are safe, and that you can still have a great time and sip the best margaritas. But it’s also true that Mexico’s overall homicide rates are going up, that they are higher than in the United States and that Lopez Obrador’s claims to the contrary are ludicrous.

Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show on Sundays at 7 pm E.T. on CNN en Español. Twitter: @oppenheimera