By the end of 2023, the security situation in Zacatecas—a state situated right in the heart of Mexico—had hit rock bottom.
Due to violence, of course: although it marked a decline compared to previous years, the state was still recording an average of nearly three homicides per day—making it the second deadliest state in the country. This was compounded by disappearances, kidnappings, and forced displacement.
But it also hit rock bottom because of what was happening *within* its institutions: police officers, cornered by drug cartels, were being killed at a higher rate than anywhere else in the country, and the local prosecutor’s office had been on strike for weeks. Its chief had resigned amidst scandals, and the impunity rate—according to official figures—stood at 99.9%.
Cristian Paul Camacho Osnaya—a lawyer in his 40s with a serious, formal demeanor—was serving at the time as the Zacatecas delegate for the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
And he was the man whom the local Governor’s Office and Congress designated to handle the emergency.
“It was a prosecutor’s office that didn’t listen—one that was insensitive and lacked empathy,” the now-chief prosecutor tells me, seated in his office within Zacatecas’s Administrative City complex.
Then, displaying a comprehensive performance report featuring his photo on the cover, he cites one of the many statistics he brought to the interview: while there were 1,741 homicides in 2021, that number dropped to 149 in 2025—a staggering 91% decline.
In 2025 alone, the reduction amounted to 71%.
There is no prosecutor in Mexico who can boast numbers like these.
Nevertheless, eight out of ten Zacatecans still feel unsafe, according to official surveys. Victims’ groups and experts alike remain skeptical of the figures. There is a massive disconnect between what the prosecutor’s office sees and what the people see. A gap similar to the one observed nationwide: President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration reports that homicides dropped by 30% in 2025, yet six out of every ten Mexicans—according to official polls—still live in fear. Homicides, extortion, and violence in general remain part of the everyday landscape.
In Washington, President Donald Trump insists on deploying troops to Mexico to combat drug cartels, while Sheinbaum needs reasons—and results—to prevent it.
Has Mexico found a solution to the violence? How can the case of Zacatecas be explained, and what does it reveal about the national situation?
