Thursday, July 17, 2025

Merchants group signals skyrocketing extortion costs for small retailers

Extortion costs for small retailers have surged across the country during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an organization that represents their interests.

Pre-pandemic, extortion costs hovered around 200 pesos (US $10) per business, but shot up to 500 pesos minimum during the pandemic, says the National Alliance of Small Businesses (ANPEC), which estimates that extortion generates US $11.3 billion for criminal groups throughout the country.

“Extortion operates with total impunity in practically the entire country due to the growing wave of insecurity and violence … in the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán and Guerrero; Bajío; Huasteca, Rivereña Tamaulipeca; the northeast of Chihuahua to Mexicali, passing through Magdalena de Quino, San Luis Río Colorado, Navolato, Culiacán, Los Mochis, Tijuana, Rosarito; towns in Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, and near Monterrey; Mexico City … among others,” ANPEC said.

For small businesses, that insecurity means dealing with both petty theft and armed robbery while local and state officials demand bribes. But a “culture of not reporting” remains, ANPEC said, due to lack of trust of the police.

“There is a justified suspicion that [the police] are colluding with criminals in many cases, leading thousands of small businesses to close their doors, since nobody likes working only to have the money they spent so much effort earning taken away by people threatening their families,” said alliance president Cuauhtémoc Rivera.

With reports from Milenio

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
two people walkin gby a for rent sign

Can rent control stop gentrification? Mexico City officials plan to find out

2
Political leaders in the nation's capital have reached into their anti-gentrification toolkit and come up with an approach that goes straight to the heart of the problem.
cell phone with Uber

Mexican authorities slam Uber’s price hike: ‘Unilateral and irresponsible’

0
The ride-hailing app insists that the rise is necessary after recent labor reforms gave its drivers full employee rights, including IMSS membership.
The achoque is a critically endangered salamander that’s the cousin of the famous axolotl.

Lake Pátzcuaro’s fishermen answer call to rescue the achoque, the axolotl’s endangered cousin

2
Fishermen in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, have teamed up with local scientists to raise achoque hatchlings and re-release them into the lake in an effort to stabilize their declining population.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity