The head of a Mexican business chambers' federation in Tamaulipas state, across the border from Texas, was killed Tuesday, hours after giving television interviews complaining about drug cartel extortion in the state, officials said.Julio Almanza was shot to death outside his offices in the city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.'We are hostages to extortion demands, we are hostages of criminal groups,' Almanza said in one of his last interviews.
'Organized crime has taken partial control'This week, the American Chamber of Commerce, whose members tend to be larger Mexican, American or multinational corporations, released a survey of its members in which 12% of respondents said that 'organized crime has taken partial control of the sales, distribution and/or pricing of their goods.