Argentina Drug Trafficking Hotspot Sees Murders Plunge

Murders in Argentina’s highest-crime metro area are plunging this year as local police presence surges and President Javier Milei enforces a crackdown on crime to make good on a top campaign pledge.

The city of Rosario, a longtime hub for agriculture exports that’s been overwhelmed by drug trafficking in recent years, has seen homicides so far this year drop to about 70, down from more than 200 at this point last year, according to Mayor Pablo Javkin. That puts the city on track for the lowest rate in at least a decade, according to available province data. Milei himself celebrated in September that Rosario had endured a 4-week stretch without homicides, a first in at least a decade.