Mexico - October 2026

The safety of those studying at Mexican universities, and female students in particular, has been thrown into question following the murder of at least five students – including four from the same university – in the space of seven months. The murder of Claudia Tacoronte, a Spanish exchange student, in the state of Morelos on 12 September has drawn international attention to the problem, placing extra pressure on the government led by President Claudia Sheinbaum to address the issue and ensure the safety of female university students.

Tacoronte, a student at Spain’s Universidad de Granada, arrived for her exchange at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM), based in state capital Cuernavaca, in mid-August. On 11 September she travelled to the city of Cuautla, some 50km southeast of the capital, for a medicinal plant festival. The following evening, she was stabbed to death outside the Cuautla cultural centre, where the event was hosted and she was staying.

Authorities immediately opened an investigation into the killing, which has drawn fierce condemnation across Mexico and Spain. On 17 September the main suspect in the case, identified as Francisco Javier ‘N’, was arrested in Cuautla. He will remain in pretrial detention while a supplementary investigation takes place. The Morelos state attorney general, Fernando Blumenkron Escobar, has ‌said his ⁠office will seek the maximum penalty for femicide in the state - 70 years in prison. Blumenkron has also said that while the murder took place as part of a robbery attempt, the severity of the injuries inflicted on the victim means the crime is classified as femicide under the state penal code.

The case has prompted widespread anger in both Mexico and Spain, with students protesting to demand stronger protection for ⁠women and for female students. While many, including the Spanish government, have welcomed the swift response by authorities and the prompt arrest of the suspected murderer, some have accused the government of being slower to act when Mexican students are the victim, with impunity rates for femicides in Mexico reportedly estimated to be over 95%.

Indeed, while Tacoronte’s killing has received the most widespread attention, in part due to the international dimension of the case, three other female UAEM students have been murdered this year. Kimberly Ramos, also a student at the university’s Cuernavaca campus, was murdered in February, while Karol Toledo, who studied at a higher education institution run by UAEM in Mazatepec municipality, was killed in March, and Michelle Itzayana Fuentes, a student of a UAEM-run high school, was murdered in May.

These killings have shone a light on the dangers facing women in Morelos. Bordered by Mexico City (CDMX) and Estado de México (Edomex) to the north, Puebla to the east, and Guerrero to the southwest, Morelos is Mexico’s second-smallest state by size after Tlaxcala (not counting CDMX) and has a population of some 2m people. Despite its small size, it recorded the seventh highest number of femicides in absolute terms between January and August this year, with 22. This places it behind only Sinaloa (74), Edomex (31), Tamaulipas (29), Chiapas (27), CDMX (25), and Chihuahua (24). When taking in the size of the population, Morelos recorded the second highest femicide rate of all Mexico’s states between January and August, with 2.06 per 100,000 people. This is behind only Sinaloa with 4.57 per 100,000.

Beyond Morelos

The dangers facing female university students extend beyond Morelos. This was demonstrated on 17 September when the body of Karla Margarita Pérez Jiménez, a medical student at the Guadalajara campus of Universidad Cuauhtémoc in Jalisco state, was found in Zapopan municipality. Pérez had been reported missing days earlier. In a press conference the following day, the federal public security minister, Omar García Harfuch, announced that an individual identified as Eduardo Isaac ‘N’ had been arrested in relation to the case.

Harfuch expressed the government’s rejection of the murders of Pérez and the four UAEM students, stating that “preventing femicides and addressing violence against women is a priority for this government”. Indeed, President Sheinbaum has often pledged to combat gender violence, introducing legislation to this end in July. The bill aims to standardise processes for investigating and prosecuting femicides across Mexico’s states, as well as introducing harsher penalties based on aggravating circumstances and establishing a framework for preventing femicidal violence [SSR-26-09]. However, such efforts may not be sufficient to convince the public that enough is being done to ensure the safety of women and particularly those studying at Mexico’s universities, with targeted measures and collaboration with universities likely needed to effectively address the problem.

Protests have taken place in Morelos and Jalisco in response to the killings, with protesters demanding justice for those killed and better protection measures for students. In Cuernavaca, students and activists interrupted the Independence Day parade on 16 September, throwing themselves to the ground to represent the victims of femicide in the state. Students also took to the streets of Jalisco state capital Guadalajara on 20 September to demand justice for Pérez and for greater security measures such as streetlighting and public transport around university buildings.

Cuautla

The municipality of Cuautla has been plagued with rising insecurity in recent years. At the end of May, the municipal mayor, Jesús Corona Damián, was arrested on charges of organised crime. Other high-profile municipal officials have also been arrested in recent months, accused of ties with the Cártel de Sinaloa. Authorities launched Plan Cuautla in July, an interinstitutional security and social intervention strategy aimed at recovering security in the city. The plan includes an increased deployment of federal, state, and municipal security forces in the city as well as measures to address the root causes of crime.

More UAEM violence

On 27 September the Morelos state attorney general’s office announced that it had opened an investigation into “criminal acts” that took place the previous day in which two young men were killed in the Chulavista neighbourhood of Cuernavaca. UAEM issued a statement confirming that those killed were students at one of its high schools in Cuernavaca. Another young man was reportedly injured in the attack, which saw armed individuals open fire on the teenagers.