MEXICO CITY — Violence has forcibly displaced people from more than half a million households across Mexico in the past five years, according to new figures released by Mexico’s national statistics agency, the first numbers that speak to the depth of what many have described as an invisible internal displacement crisis .
The figures published this week by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography, or INEGI — an autonomous government agency that has at times been at odds with Mexico’s ruling party — offer the first wider snapshot of the ongoing crisis. “So this coming from the independent INEGI, it’s a breakthrough. It’s huge that they’re trying to put a number on it, which is just the first step. The data focuses specifically on internally displaced people, and doesn’t capture people who have fled to the U.S. She is also facing pressure from the Trump administration to show progress on security.
The INEGI figures don’t include people displaced before 2020, meaning the number of displaced people across the country is likely much higher. Cartel violence has raged in key areas of Mexico since the beginning of the drug war around 2006 under the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderón . Until now, Mexico’s government did not share comprehensive data on people who have been forced to flee their homes due to ongoing violence in many parts of Mexico, leaving civil society groups piecing together information to get a wider view of the problem.
“For years, civil society and victims of forced displacement have been sounding the alarm on the issue and the federal government has not paid attention,” Mora said Friday. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said little about the issue, focusing instead on the government’s efforts to reduce homicide numbers and crack down on criminal groups. At her morning news briefing Wednesday, Sheinbaum questioned the figures and said she had asked INEGI to provide further details about the data, including the questions and methodology used to reach those numbers.
