Drug cartels taking over government roles in parts of Mexico
Some have been calling Mexico a “failed state” for a while now.
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico The “police” for the Zetas paramilitary cartel are so numerous here - upward of 3,000, according to one estimate - that they far outnumber the official force, and their appearance further sets them apart.
Most are teens sporting crew cuts, gold chains and earrings, with shorts worn well below the waist and cellphones pressed to their ears. These “spotters” seem to be everywhere, including elementary schools, keeping tabs on everything and everyone for the area’s most dominant drug cartel.
“Get the (expletive) away from my child!” Thelma Pena, a young mother, yelled at a Zetas spotter as she took her son to school.
“Am I afraid of being killed?” she later said of her outburst. “We’re already dying, little by little, day by day.”
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In Ciudad Juarez, the Juarez cartel, which is defending its territory against the Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is quietly installing its own rule.
In interviews with at least a dozen vendors, businessmen, cab drivers and shoe shiners, all talked of paying monthly extortion fees to the cartel. Fees range from 100 pesos - about $9 - for street vendors, to 500 pesos ($45) for cab drivers and 800 pesos ($70) for junkyard owners. The Juarez cartel and their enforcers, the La Linea gang, have even set up bank accounts so businessmen can make direct deposits. Many of those interviewed said they were not even bothering to pay federal taxes anymore.
“What does that tell you?” asked Manuel Valdivia, a mechanic and cab driver. “Because to me it tells me everything I need to know about who’s in charge.”
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