Drug Cartels Are Fifth Biggest Employer in Mexico, With 175,000 Workers Josh Marcus - UK Independent
go to original September 26, 2023

Inside Mexico's Most Powerful Drug Cartel (ABC News)

Drug cartels employ 175,000 people across Mexico making it the fifth largest employer in the country, according to a new study.

A vast network of 150 cartels are recruiting upwards of 350 new members a week. This puts the Mexican drug trade on par with industries like general practice medicine – which employed 189,000 people in 2023 – and coffee and tobacco cultivation, according to the Mexican government.

The cartels employ a similar number of people as Oxxo, Mexico’s largest corner shop chain.

The study counted everyone from rural peasants cultivating opium, to armed men guarding drug labs, to cartel leadership organising international smuggling. The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, Mexico’s largest, employ an estimated 46,600 on their own, according to the paper.

“It’s very important to understand the size of the problem,” said Rafael Prieto-Curiel, who led the research at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna. “It helps put the issue into perspective.”

The research comes as a blow for Mexican leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador who had made cracking down on cartel activity as one of the pillars of his presidency.

The study estimated cartel employment levels from statistics on incarcerations and deaths of known members in Mexico.

The research team found that extensive recruitment efforts were necessary to replace the 37pc of known cartel members killed or put in prison in the last decade.

In addition to studying the size of the cartels, the researchers also projected how various public safety initiatives would impact their growth.

The paper found that under law-and-order approaches focused on incarceration of cartel members, the groups would still grow 26pc by 2027, while peaceful negotiations would have no meaningful effect. Instead, researchers argued, only decreasing recruitment would make a dent.

However some observers questioned the methodology of the study.

Read the rest at Independent.ie

Related: AMLO Says Research on Drug Cartel Employment in Mexico Is ‘False’ (Mexico News Daily)

Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene Announces Absurd Declaration of War Against Mexican Cartels (HuffPost)

Related: Cartels Turn Chiapas Into Their Showground With Parade (Mexicanist)

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