A new report shows there were 871 homicides in Tijuana last year, making 2016 the third deadliest year in the border city in the past decade.
The annual analysis of drug-related violence in Mexico, by researchers at the Justice in Mexico program at the University of San Diego, examines trends in violence and organized crime in Mexico using both official and non-government sources.
Other reports have documented more than 900 homicides in Tijuana in 2016.
Researchers say the recent increase in killings is partly due to "inter- and intra-organizational conflicts among rival drug traffickers in the wake of (Joaquin "El Chapo") Guzmán’s re-arrest in 2016."
Tijuana, which is now considered the second most violent city in Mexico, has worked to shed its reputation for drug violence since the height of the drug war in 2008. Homicide figures fell to 320 in 2012 but have been on the rise since then.
Overall, homicides in Mexico rose 20 percent in 2016 from the year before, according to the report.
David Shirk, director of the Justice in Mexico program at the University of San Diego and author of the report discussed what may be driving the recent wave of violence in Mexico, Wednesday on Midday Edition.
