This is not exactly what happened and an ignorant hot take. People were rounded up without any due process and disappeared into secret, dystopian human warehouses with the express intention of no rehabilitation and throwing away the key: an industrial-sized Gitmo. Regardless of how many criminals were caught or not, how many innocent people who committed no crimes and had no chance to defense themselves have to lose their rights and possibly their lives in the name of "safety"?
Yes, the premise is absolutely ridiculous here. A country where you might be safer from homicide (doubtful) but where the government can just imprison anybody at will, and is abusing that power daily - this is not the safest country in Latin America, not by a long shot.
Doesn't seem to hold up with other examples of countries with very high per capita imprisonment rates -- like the USA and Brazil.
It would work if you indiscriminately jail anyone that “looks” like a gangbanger. But I would guess 30% of those jailed would be innocent even if the mass arrests were made in good faith (they almost certainly won’t be at least in the US).
The US is much safer than Mexico. Mexico has a much lower imprisonment rate, lower unemployment rates, and more gun control.
> more gun control.
yes, on paper
There is pretty much a free flow of US guns going into Mexico.