Battle against surging violence awaits Mexico's new president

• "Evidence suggests that illegal outfits now have more social control, state allies and economic might," a recent report from the International Crisis Group found.
• Large criminal groups are fighting over territory for drug routes to the U.S. and increasingly to make money off human smuggling.

Zoom in: Violence has increasingly targeted politicians.

• Since 2018, public officials and political candidates have been the targets of more than 1,938 threats, attacks, kidnappings and murders, per a specialized database from nonprofit Data Cívica.
• This election cycle, at least two dozen candidates have been killed, and 469 candidates were granted special police protection after they received threats, the security ministry says.

What they're saying: "Criminal meddling in elections through threats or murders, hitting practically all political parties, has become more regular in the past 10 to 15 years," says Laura N. Medellín Mendoza, a law and criminology researcher at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León.

• She adds that the situation has been more dire this election and that it's become clear authorities aren't equipped to protect so many candidates.

The bottom line: "Criminality in general is so entrenched that it's hard to think any of it will be magically resolved based on June 2," Medellín says.

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