Hot, fresh tortillas roll off a machine in Mexico City. Tiny tortilla shops are a fixture of many neighborhoods, but are increasingly targeted by gangs. CUAUTLA, Mexico — The shots rang out just before 10 a.m. A motorcyclist roared past a modest building behind the old railway station here, firing three times. Minutes later, the gunman unloaded on a storefront a half-mile away, wounding a teenager.
At least 15 percent of tortillerías — about 20,000 storefront businesses — are regularly extorted, according to the National Tortilla Council, a trade group. A decade ago, the council said, only a tiny percentage were threatened. Around the country, from rural villages to beach resort towns such as Zihuatanejo, tortilla shops that refuse to pay are set on fire or riddled with gunfire.
Mexico’s cartels began to diversify into extortion, migrant smuggling and other illicit businesses more than a decade ago, as they splintered into smaller groups under pressure from security forces. Newer gangs needed fresh sources of income.in Mexico is illicit, the Environment Ministry says — with a significant amount in the hands of organized crime groups. At least 30 percent of the fuel sold in Mexico is stolen or smuggled,Onexpo, a national gas station group.
Vázquez, 55, a brooding man with silver-streaked hair, leads the tortilla association in Morelos, a small state south of Mexico City. Lately, he’d become a minor celebrity, making TV news by denouncing theHis wife has been urging him to lower his profile. But Vázquez, who’d trained as a lawyer, can’t contain his outrage.He turned onto a quiet street of pastel-colored homes and pulled into a walled compound.
In some cities, deliverymen employed by tortilla shops to supply taco stands and restaurants have been accused of also selling drugs. A number of motorcycle delivery employees have been killed.Sinaloa is a major source of white corn used to make tortillas around Mexico. Cartels have penetrated the government-run water system in the state, putting their people in key jobs dealing with irrigation. Cartel allies pay little or nothing for water, while normal farmers have to pay extra.
Sinaloa is a major source of white corn used to make tortillas around Mexico. Cartels have penetrated the government-run water system in the state, putting their people in key jobs dealing with irrigation. Cartel allies pay little or nothing for water, while normal farmers have to pay extra. Sinaloa is a major source of white corn used to make tortillas around Mexico. Cartels have penetrated the government-run water system in the state, putting their people in key jobs dealing with irrigation. Cartel allies pay little or nothing for water, while normal farmers have to pay extra.“Fragmentation means that there’s a lot more competition for territory,” said Eduardo Moncada, a political scientist at Barnard College who studies crime in Latin America.
The following day, the coordinator of the truckers at Cuautla’s sugar mill was shot dead. Two weeks later, a prominent local butcher was killed, after complaining to local authorities about extortion.But the threat of crime doesn’t stop at the tiny tortilla shops. It overshadows nearly every step of the tortilla process.
In some areas, crime groups are also taking over corn distribution. In Guerrero state, which adjoins Morelos, cartels strong-arm farmers into selling corn to them, and then force tortillerías to purchase it. The gangs even inspect the shops’ inventories to ensure they’re not buying elsewhere.renegotiation of the Mérida InitiativeLópez Obrador disbanded the federal police and cut funds for local cops, widely seen as corrupt.
But the crime economy doesn’t only thrive because of dirty cops. In many cases, the gangs have political cover. “Drug traffickers are totally involved in the elections,” said Castro, the bishop.. Blanco, a member of the ruling Morena party, told reporters he hadn’t known they were gangsters. “I take photos with everyone,” he said.On a recent visit to Morelos, López Obrador praised Blanco as a “great man.
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