MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - When farmers in a tiny Mexican village last month hacked to death suspected drug cartel members who were squeezing them for protection money, it shone a harsh light on one of the country’s biggest security problems: extortion.
While the government has reduced murders, extortion is far higher now than when President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in 2018, making it a major risk for the economy that has drawn relatively little scrutiny.
Critics say Lopez Obrador’s strategy of trying to contain violence by dialing down direct confrontation with gangs has fueled the malaise because it has given them more room to prey on businesses.
“Burgeoning extortion has not grabbed the headlines, but it’s been the all-the-more corrosive fallout of a security strategy that never merited the label,” said Falko Ernst, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.
While the government has reduced murders, extortion is far higher now than when President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in 2018, making it a major risk for the economy that has drawn relatively little scrutiny.
Pitch it as the lesser of two evils, Americans should understand that
Lopez Obrador argues violence is not solved with more violence, and that the answer lies in improving living standards with welfare spending and better wages so as to root out chronic poverty and inequality that feed crime.
He does have a point. For a long term solution, the Government needs to create a stable, prosperous society. But, part of that is feeling safe and that may mean a bit of violence to meet the violence of the gangs. It’s not an “either/or” situation. You can work on building a stable society, while also imprisoning criminals. Of course, that assumes government officials aren’t on the take. Corruption really derails a society.
“Corrosive hole” is your mom’s nickname.
