Espejo questions Sinaloa crime figures

Reporting and context

Revista Espejo argues that official accounts of declining crime fail to reflect the scale of Sinaloa's security crisis, calling on federal, state and municipal authorities to acknowledge the damage to civilians as a first step toward addressing it.

In commentary published November 11, the outlet questions whether authorities are confronting organized crime with all available resources or managing public perceptions through misleading figures. Those criticisms are the publication's analysis of the government's response.

According to Revista Espejo, its accompanying fact-check recorded 169 intentional homicides in Sinaloa in October 2026, compared with 130 in October 2025. The commentary argues that claims of monthly improvement must also be measured against conditions before September 9, 2024, which it identifies as the start of the cartel conflict.

Espejo reported a separate discrepancy in the 2025 totals: 1,966 violent deaths attributed to the national statistics institute, INEGI, against 1,729 cases reported by the state prosecutor's office. The commentary describes the gap as more than 250 deaths, although the two figures it gives differ by 237. That inconsistency remains unresolved in the source.

The outlet argues that presenting a more favorable picture than residents experience undermines public confidence and prevents an adequate response. Its central demand is for institutions at every level to recognize the severity of the crisis and base their actions on an accurate account of its victims.

The source uses an archive photograph of National Guard vehicles to illustrate the commentary; it does not identify it as an image of the October incidents.

Original publication: Revista Espejo.