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REYNOSA, Tamaulipas - Of the 32 states in Mexico, Tamaulipas is the fourth most \\u201cpeaceful,\\u201d according to a report published by Vision of Humanity.

\\u201cYucat\\xe1n was once again the most peaceful state in Mexico, followed by Tlaxcala, Chiapas, Tamaulipas and Nayarit,\\u201d the report states.

\\u201cReflecting the great divergence in violence levels across the country, the average homicide rate in the most peaceful states was 9.2 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to an average rate of 74.6 in the least peaceful states.\\u201d

Details of the report were first publicized in the Rio Grande Valley by Duncan Wood, vice president for strategy and new initiatives at the Wilson Center and senior advisor to the Mexico Institute, on his recent visit to the region. Neither the Wilson Center of the Mexico Institute played any part in producing the report.

At a breakfast event hosted by the CEO Club at the McAllen Country Club, Wood said Tamaulipas was reportedly the fourth most peaceful state in Mexico. Some members of in the audience chuckled when he said it. Wood acknowledged the findings of the report seem hard to believe.

Wood brought up the report in a Q&A after his speech. Paul R. Rodriguez, CEO of Valley Land Title Co., asked the question. \\u201cWhat about the elephant in the room has to be security. Where do you think Mexico stands there?\\u201d Rodriguez asked.

Wood gave a detailed response about national security in Mexico in general. He then addressed Tamaulipas specifically.

\\u201cI was looking at the data on security header of this trip. I wanted to look at how Tamaulipas is doing. And weirdly enough, there's a Peacefulness Index. It\\u2019s a Global Index, but then the index on Mexico was recently released. And Tamaulipas was classified as the fourth most peaceful state in Mexico,\\u201d Wood said.

After murmurs from the CEO Club members, Wood responded:

\\u201cYeah, yeah, exactly. It doesn't make sense, right? So I asked some of my colleagues, how do you explain this? And one of them took the time to write to the folks who authored the report.\\u201d

Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service website to read the full story.

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