Mexican cartels extend beyond the drug market to encompass various sectors of the economy

Jorge Ventura and Denise Gomez

4 minutes ago

The initials of the drug cartel “Jalisco Nueva Generacion” (CJNG) are seen as graffiti on a wall in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, Mexico, August 29, 2023. (ULISES RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — Mexican drug cartels are expanding their criminal activities beyond the drug trade, infiltrating various sectors of the economy and daily life in Mexico and beyond, according to new government reports and investigations.

The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, the two most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico, have expanded their activities to include internet services, fuel theft and extortion in the avocado, tortilla and chicken industries.

In Michoacán state, authorities uncovered a scheme in which criminal gangs forced residents to pay for expensive internet on pain of death. A raid on three properties yielded antennas and internet retransmission equipment, showing the cartels’ reach into unexpected sectors.

Fuel theft, known locally as “huachicoleo,” remains a lucrative business for the cartels, a practice that has caused billions of dollars in losses under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The cartels use sophisticated methods, including bribing employees of state oil company Pemex and using modified tankers.

Mexico’s avocado industry, the world’s largest, has become a prime target. In Michoacán, cartels demand monthly protection fees of $135 to $500 per hectare. The United States briefly suspended avocado imports from Mexico in 2022 and 2024 after U.S. officials received death threats.

Cartels have also targeted tortilla businesses, a staple of Mexican cuisine. The National Tortilla Council reports that 14 to 15 percent of tortillerías are exposed to extortion, with weekly fees ranging from $135 to $190.

In the poultry industry, cartels like La Familia Michoacana have forced sellers to buy poultry at inflated prices. A Mexican investigation found that some confiscated chicken contained harmful additives.

Despite this diversification, drug trafficking remains the cartels’ most profitable enterprise, although it generates lower profits compared to their other criminal activities.