Overview
- Mexico City’s Congress received the government’s initiative on Wednesday, which creates the crime of coercive harassment with prison terms of three to seven years and adds extortion and attempts to the list of grave crimes.
- The bill, delivered by Government Secretary César Cravioto, repeals Article 148 Quáter to align with the 2025 federal law, tightens the rule on illegitimate collection by treating physical or moral violence as an aggravating factor, and lets prosecutors act from the first threat.
- The legislative move follows Monday’s Pacto contra la Extorsión that united the three branches of government with business groups, academia, civil society, and local mayors to coordinate prevention, reporting, and enforcement.
- Operational steps now underway include a specialized cabinet, an immediate-response center for victims, signal blockers in prisons, stronger investigative tools such as voice databases and phone and financial analysis, and protection for complainants and witnesses.
- Officials report 335 detentions from January 2025 through March 2026, most extortion calls are attempts at 87.5 percent, and consummated phone cases fell 29.2 percent from the August 2025 peak, even as formal complaints surged from 473 in 2024 to 1,728 in 2025 and spiked early in 2026, with leaders urging victims to report despite fear.