With just below two months to go earlier than the 2026 World Cup, one of the event’s host cities in Mexico is experiencing a worrying pattern.
In Guadalajara, a city in Jalisco state suffering from drug violence and hundreds of circumstances of disappeared people, residents are feeling more and more unsafe.
Nine in 10 residents, or 90.2%, view the scenario in the world as insecure, in keeping with a national public safety survey printed Friday by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
That’s up from 79.2% of these surveyed in December 2025, in keeping with Inegi, which described the rise as a “statistically significant difference.”
Security in Mexico, one of three countries in North America internet hosting the World Cup, has been a significant concern in the lead-up to the event. In the Guadalajara metropolitan space, these considerations have grown since February, when federal forces carried out an operation in Jalisco to arrest Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho,” chief of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Damaged vehicles, damaged home windows in Mexico’s Guadalajara after ‘El Mencho’ killing
The group is taken into account one of the “most powerful and ruthless criminal organizations” in Mexico, in keeping with the US Drug Enforcement Administration. It was designated a terrorist group by the US only a few weeks into the second time period of President Donald Trump.
“El Mencho” was significantly wounded in the operation and died en path to the hospital. His loss of life unleashed chaos and a wave of violence in numerous elements of Jalisco, together with Guadalajara, Zapopan and Puerto Vallarta.
In Zapopan, a city in the Guadalajara metro space that’s dwelling to the stadium internet hosting World Cup matches, the notion of insecurity has additionally elevated.
In the newest survey in the city, respondents for which have been interviewed beginning on February 23, simply at some point after the loss of life of “El Mencho,” 70% of them mentioned they felt unsafe.
That determine is more than 16 proportion factors larger than in December, when over 54% reported feeling unsafe. In the primary quarter of 2025, the determine was 44.6%.
Meanwhile, in Puerto Vallarta, the view of insecurity is beneath the nationwide common of 61.5%, however it nonetheless noticed a big improve in Friday’s survey.
In truth, the favored resort city confirmed the most important improve nationwide – virtually 28 proportion factors – rising from 32% in December of final 12 months to 59.9%. This means the quantity of individuals who now feel much less secure has virtually doubled.
With a 90.2% notion of insecurity, Guadalajara ranks because the second city in your complete nation the place folks feel most unsafe. It trails solely Irapuato (92.1%) in Guanajuato, one other state suffering from organized crime. So far in 2026, Guanajuato leads the nationwide registry of violent deaths with 413 victims of intentional homicides and 5 of femicide.
In Mexico City, the notion of insecurity has remained comparatively steady in the 2 municipalities closest to Banorte Stadium, which can host the World Cup for the third time.
More than 44% of these interviewed mentioned they felt unsafe in the borough of Coyoacán, a lower from 47.2% in December. The Tlalpan borough registered a slight improve, rising from 55.7% in December to 57.9% in the survey printed Friday.
The third World Cup venue in Mexico is Monterrey, the capital of the state of Nuevo León. In this city, 59.7% of these interviewed mentioned they felt unsafe, a notable lower in comparison with 67.4% in December.
The city of Guadalupe, the place Monterrey Stadium is situated, additionally noticed a lower in the notion of insecurity, going from 44.2% in December to 37% in April.