Newly released data shows that Mexico bucked a troubling upward trend in violence last year.

Mexico’s National Statistics and Geography Institute logged 35,625 murders last year, a drop of 1,148 from 2020. The only other reduction seen since 2014 was a modest fall of 24 in 2019.

On Tuesday, Mexico’s Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez touted the numbers as evidence of the national security strategy’s success.

More current data tracked by her office suggests that Mexico could be on track for an even more substantial drop in homicides this year. Through June, there were more than 1,548 fewer murders than the same period in 2021.