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Mexico Cargo Theft Intensifies at Year-End, With Violence High and Key Highways Targeted

Late-year analyses point to rising attacks with pervasive violence, contradicting earlier declines in official tallies.

Overview

  • Industry data project more than 16,000 cargo thefts in 2025 with about 68% involving violence and annual losses exceeding 7 billion pesos.
  • Official SESNSP/FGR investigations fell 16.9% year over year in January–September (8,638 vs. 10,445), yet October saw increases reported by industry groups at federal (+7%), common jurisdiction (+15%) and national (+11%) levels.
  • Guanajuato remains a national hotspot, accounting for 7.3% of cases from January to October, with over half of state incidents on the Querétaro–León (MEX‑45D) and QuerétaroSan Luis Potosí (MEX‑57D) corridors.
  • The holiday Guadalupe–Reyes period adds near-term risk as freight and travel surge, with routes such as MéxicoQuerétaro, MéxicoPuebla, Arco Norte and the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense repeatedly flagged and risk windows differing for truckers and travelers.
  • Recovery of stolen heavy vehicles has fallen to roughly 59–60%, drivers have staged road blockades over violence and alleged extortion, and industry groups report economic losses reaching up to 15 million pesos per day on critical routes.