ICYMI: How The Cartels Of Mexico Have Diversified Their Income Streams

Beyond The Horizon

Mexican drug cartels have a long history of infiltrating various businesses to diversify their income streams and legitimize their illicit wealth. Here is a summary of how they have accomplished this:

1. Money Laundering: Cartels often use legitimate businesses, such as restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, to launder their drug profits. They commingle drug money with the revenue from these businesses, making it difficult for authorities to trace the illegal funds.
2. Front Companies: Cartels establish front companies, which appear to be legal entities engaged in legitimate activities. These companies can include construction firms, agricultural enterprises, or even real estate ventures. The primary purpose is to provide a cover for their criminal operations.
3. Corruption: Cartels corrupt law enforcement officials, politicians, and public servants to protect their interests and facilitate their operations. Bribery and coercion are common tactics used to ensure cooperation from authorities.
4. Transportation and Logistics: They infiltrate the transportation industry, including trucking companies and cargo services, to facilitate the movement of drugs across borders. They also manipulate shipping routes to hide drug shipments in legal cargo.
5. Extortion: Cartels often extort money from local businesses, threatening violence or harm if business owners do not comply. This provides a significant source of income while instilling fear in the community.
6. Mining and Natural Resources: Some cartels are involved in illegal mining and extraction of natural resources, such as precious metals or timber. They use these activities to launder money and fund their operations.
7. Agriculture: Cartels may control large swaths of agricultural land, where they grow illegal crops like marijuana and poppies for drug production. They sometimes disguise these operations as legal farming activities.
8. Retail and Wholesale: Cartels may infiltrate the retail and wholesale distribution of legal products. They can use their influence to control supply chains and distribution networks, which can include food, beverages, and consumer goods.
9. Money Exchange and Financial Services: They may operate their own money exchange or remittance businesses to move money across borders and circumvent financial regulations.
10. Real Estate: Cartels invest in real estate, including luxury properties and land acquisitions, as a way to park their illicit wealth and generate additional income through rentals and sales.
11. Protection Rackets: Cartels offer "protection" services to local businesses, forcing them to pay regular fees in exchange for safety from cartel-related violence. This is another form of extortion.
12. Cybercrime: Some cartels have ventured into cybercrime, engaging in activities such as hacking and online fraud to generate revenue and launder money.

The infiltration of these various sectors allows Mexican drug cartels to diversify their income streams, legitimize their wealth, and maintain a strong grip on the communities in which they operate.
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From chickens to cabs: Drug cartels expand across the Mexican economy | Economy and Business | EL PAÍS English (elpais.com)