‘I like football, but we’re nervous’: As Mexico revels in World Cup glory, cartel violence leaves many gripped in fear

Mexico has been swept up in World Cup fervour, with vibrant outdoor celebrations transforming streets, plazas, and fan zones across its three host cities – Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey – since the tournament kicked off on 11 June.

Yet, a starkly different reality unfolds in parts of the country grappling with cartel violence, where the global football spectacle is experienced through a lens of fear.

In numerous villages and towns, where daily shootings are a grim and constant threat, the usual cheers are largely confined indoors.

Here, the immediate, real-life concerns for safety far outweigh any excitement surrounding Mexico’s progress to the knockout stage, casting a sombre shadow over the national jubilation.

“I really like football, but … we’re nervous,” a lime grower from Michoacan, one of the states with the highest concentration of criminal groups fighting each other, told the Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. During a recent World Cup match, he said, local cartels were launching explosives from drones at a nearby ranch.

“In previous years, people would get together to watch the games and place bets. Not anymore. … There’s no party here, there’s only exhaustion,” he said.

Further north is Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa, where rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have fueled nearly two years of violence. It sits about 1,040 kilometers (645 miles) from Mexico City.

It might as well be a world away.

Rather than taking to the streets, many residents seek out quiet spots, gather at friends’ homes or head to one of the few pubs showing the matches to forget, if only for a couple of hours, that their lives are shaped by violence.

José Miguel Taniyama, a chef and restaurant owner in the city of 1 million, hoped the World Cup would help revive sales after a two-year economic crisis caused by the fighting, a conflict that shut businesses and led to the loss of nearly 60,000 jobs in Sinaloa, according to official figures

For the opening game of the World Cup in which Mexico triumphed over South Africa, just two tables were occupied as the game began. The situation improved days later but not as he hoped.

“Business has been slow. We had some reservations but not at full capacity, and sales aren’t as strong as they were during similar events,” he said, adding that, as soon as the match ends, “people run home” because of the violence.

On the other side of the country, in Poza Rica, an area on the Gulf of Mexico where cartel violence has recently intensified, the streets were empty after Mexico faced off against North Korea on June 18.

“No one went out to celebrate,” said Guillermo Núñez, a 28-year-old business owner and soccer player for a local team, who walked a friend home after they watched the game together.

Celebrations that once followed big games have largely disappeared out of fear of going out at night, he said, and many people close to him are changing their routines. This year, two journalists were killed near his home. “The violence has stolen even the desire to go out and watch soccer.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has put a positive spin on all things World Cup. Pressure from the United States on economic and security issues continues, but U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson lauded the collaboration between the two nations to ensure a successful World Cup, including the deployment of more than 100,000 Mexican security forces across the country.

“People are happy, super happy” with the World Cup, Sheinbaum said last week. On Wednesday, she said Mexico was sending the world a message of “joy, happiness and excitement” as it hosts the tournament.

Some fans acknowledged that one of the reasons they’re losing themselves in the games was to temporarily forget their country’s most painful experiences.

“We Mexicans know how to appreciate a victory because we’ve been through many very painful and humanitarian disastrous events,” said Juan Pablo de los Santos, a fan who celebrated at a gathering attended by thousands in Mexico City after Mexico’s win against South Korea.

In cities across Tamaulipas, where cells of the Gulf Cartel, factions of Los Zetas and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel operate, many people appear resigned to living amid violence.

A resident of Miguel Alemán, a small town in Tamaulipas right on the border with Texas, said things are improving because shootings no longer last for hours, but just a while. The woman, who asked for anonymity because of security concerns, said neighbors can sit on their doorsteps and talk now, something that was impossible months ago because criminal groups would abduct anyone they saw on the streets.

Sheinbaum’s administration highlights progress on security, pointing to a decline in homicides since she took office in October 2024.

Last week, the Mexican government released updated figures showing an average of 50.4 homicides a day from January through May, the lowest rate in a decade for that period. In June, the daily average dropped to 39.

Few dispute that the numbers reflect an improvement. But analysts note that people continue to disappear and that violence remains acute in several parts of the country despite the decline in killings.

Fear runs deep here after decades of violence.

“People involved in organized crime sit down to watch soccer so things calm down a bit,” said Josías Ramírez, a worker at a maquila in Matamoros, next to Brownsville, Texas.

But he said reality doesn’t change. “The fear is ever-present because we live in a border society where crimes continue to happen in broad daylight.”

A thousand kilometers (620 miles) southwest, in Uruapan — the city in Michoacan whose mayor was assassinated nearly eight months ago — hundreds of young people set aside their fears after Mexico’s victory over South Korea and joined celebrations under the watch of security forces.

“I thought it was dangerous because of everything that’s going on, but to see some people going out gave me confidence,” said María Luisa García, 19.

“Youngsters keep throwing themselves in risky situations … They know that eventually one of them will get caught up in trouble … and will probably die, but they like to party,” said Juan Carlos Mora, a berry farmer in Uruapan. “Every day it’s the same thing: today it just wasn’t my turn, tomorrow, who knows?”

Sheinbaum: ‘People are super happy’Normalizing the violence