Authored by Jennie Taer via SaraCarter.com,

As President Trump declared a national emergency over the humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border, our southern neighbor Mexico is on track to record its most violent year on record, according to security experts.

The first quarter of 2019 would also be the most violent first three-month period of any year since the SESNSP started recording comparable statistics in 1997.

“With these statistics, we can see that the incidence of intentional homicides is not being reduced or contained, which has been identified as a priority objective in the security strategy of the current government,” explained Ricardo Márquez Blas, a high-ranking security official in an interview with Mexico News Daily.

These statistics show that the number of homicides has continued to rise since President López Obrador took office in December 2018.

One in every three adults is a victim of crime each year, the report said.

Meanwhile, the cost of violence in Mexico increased by 10 percent last year to the equivalent of $268 billion — while the country’s “peacefulness” score sank about 5 percent, according to a global think tank.

The Institute for Economics and Peace said in its newly released report, “Mexico Peace Index 2019,” that the cost of violence is equivalent to about 25% of the country’s GDP, Mexico News Daily reported.