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Mexican cartels are fifth-largest employers in the country, study finds
- sandworm101 3y agoLol. And in an interesting symmetry, prisons are the largest employers in many areas of the United States. The prison industry, or "corrections" more broadly, probably breaks the top five in most US states.
- beardog 3y agoIf you look at the top employers for any given medium sized town it will usually be school systems, a hospital, jail, and a Walmart. If you're lucky you also get a distribution center or meat packing plant!
- herbst 3y agoI just checked a few top 10s from Switzerland and there is no jail to be seen anywhere. Kinda weird to think that so many people are jailed in an area that it turns to one of the biggest work providers.
- fatfingerd 3y agoThey also hire the same PR people.. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35096436 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35096436
- chucksta 3y ago>Organised crime groups in Mexico have about 175,000 members – making them the fifth-biggest employer in the country, according to new research published in the journal Science Country in context is Mexico not US
- sandworm101 3y agoBut the US is where most of the drugs go after mexico. It is a multinational industry.
- mminer237 3y agoDrugs isn't even where the cartels make most of their money anymore, is it? I was under the impression iron mining was their #1 source of revenue nowadays with avocados, limes, and logging also being big money-makers.
- stareatgoats 3y agoLol yea! Come to think of it it might even be preferable to have cartels replace law enforcement everywhere. Just think, no restrictions on drugs of any kind, and if anyone makes a fuss, just shoot them. Genius, sweet and simple. edit: /s
- proc0 3y agoWould you rather have cartels or prisons?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ahzhou 3y agoI'm not even sure how Mexico manages to dig itself out. The only way to root out the cartels seems to just hope that the US figures out how to manage its drug market. It's a pity - Mexico is so rich in culture but is just absolutely crushed by the US's demand for drugs.
- nwienert 3y agoThe US is a very rich country that is very close by, of course the drugs flow there. To single out the US is like blaming trees for forest fires. They're part of the the problem, but it makes it seem like you just want an easy thing to point a finger at, whereas the grim reality is that it's complex and theres a ton of players and plans that'd need to go into motion to ever improve things.
- ahzhou 3y agoI agree it's complex. I'm not blaming the US. Like most problems in the world, it's a result of circumstance, not because there's a bad guy. It's not like there's a magical solution to market forces applying to drugs. My point is more that the geopolitical reasons for the cartel's existence means that Mexico has much less agency in solving it than they would like.
- jonahbenton 3y ago[flagged]
- hombre_fatal 3y agoThis just seems like polishing your hobby horse rather than responding to anything stated upstream in the convo. So, Americans wanting drugs and Mexico being able to provide them is related to or caused by an inherent predatory trait that Americans have that's first demonstrated by pioneers a few hundred years ago? Or was it just an "America bad" interjection?
- flangola7 3y ago
- darth_avocado 3y ago> The authors argue that the best way to reduce the bloodshed would be to cut cartel recruitment Okay, but how? The whole article goes on about reducing recruitment, and how incarceration isn’t the answer, but never specified how do you reduce recruitment?
- 6stringmerc 3y agoBased on my studies since things really kicked off in 2010 it persists because of poverty mostly. Mostly rural places kind of fighting similar turf battles they have for generations. Alliances come and go. The profit motive is real but honestly it doesn’t trickle down to the cannon fodder. Sometimes you can tell when they got shot down by the authorities and then a gun was tossed next to their body. Street gangs LA Chicago rural gangs in Michocan and old traditional “we ain’t changing shit” in Nectar Lima. Fuel theft, extortion, prostitution…same old stuff really just an environment and culture quite unique to outsiders. Chino Antrax. Boats Blancas. The resting place for Z-3 El Lazca…
- remhrtin 3y agoIf Mexico can pull off what El Salvador did they may have a chance. I worry the situation is just too far gone to be able to do that anymore.
- dumpsterdiver 3y agoI'm confused about what "reducing recruitment" even means in this scenario. There's demand, and then there are organizations who supply that demand, and then there are people who need jobs (sometimes desperately). Is "reducing recruitment" another way of saying, "if we would 'just' fix the whole economy then people wouldn't be inclined to accept this type of work"? That's kind of what it sounds like. That reasoning falls flat when you face the reality that demand is not slowing down, and that the cartels are already thoroughly entrenched. Back to square one.
- proc0 3y agoEmployer is an ironically sinister way of putting. Given their infamy with brutality, I can't imagine how the "employees" are treated.
- blovescoffee 3y agoI mean pretty horribly in many cases but there’s a reason so many people still join.
- pollote 3y agoNo option, is the only option.
- blovescoffee 3y agoI don't understand, are you saying people are forced into joining the cartel?
- nomilk 3y agoInterested to know if cartel activity decreased since some US states legalised marijuana. And how much it could potentially fall if all other US states followed suit. If marijuana and cocaine were made legal and taxed in the US, would these cartels still exist?
- Wohlf 3y agoEnding prohibition didn't end the mafia it just took some of the wind out of their sails, they moved on to other things.
- ImJamal 3y agoThey likely would exist, at least some of them. Cartels are getting into legal industries like avocados and gold mines. They are also involved with human trafficking, protection rackets, robberies, etc. The LA Times did an exposé about the avocado aspect. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-11-20/mexico-cartel-violence-avocados https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-11-20/mexico...
- herbst 3y agoWhat about fentanyl and opioids? Pretty sure that is where the big money is at.
- yMMe2WYE_D 3y agoI would expect a lot more turf wars if drug market shrinks. And not having the drug money flow into the country might not be that great, at lest in short time.
- throw__away7391 3y agoI surprised there's never mention of reducing the flow of arms illegally exported from the US. From a practical perspective I think this is low-hanging fruit.
- ushtaritk421 3y agoSeems completely beside the point to be honest. Like they come from here and cause a small fraction of the mischief they are purported to cause there.
- throw__away7391 3y agoI have no idea what you’re even talking about, but basically all weapons used by the cartels are purchased in the US. Mexico has only one legal gun store in the entire country and legally owning firearms is tightly restricted compared to the US. These exports are already illegal under US law, but it is deliberately made difficult to enforce ultimately because the gun manufacturers love it when someone comes in every week and buys 50 rifles without concern for price and then drives them off over the border. They’ve managed to convince a lot of legal gun owners that the rather straightforward steps that would be necessary to prevent this from happening are a major infringement on their rights and preparation for some kind of government purge. A very similar situation existed in Florida with the “pain management clinics” that were selling massive quantities of drugs while the government did nothing about it for years.
- blovescoffee 3y agoThe people crossing with those guns are doing it legally. I've talked with ex security detail for one politician here and he explained, you can just take apart the gun and bring it piecemeal across the border without question. In my mind the solution is controlling the purchase of guns.
- throw__away7391 3y agoSorry but you are misinformed. Taking apart a gun is not a legal loophole, all guns have one piece, the frame/receiver, which is engraved with the serial number and in the US is legally considered to be “the gun”, as opposed to “parts”. Being a “straw buyer”, e.g. buying gun on someone else’s behalf, is illegal in and of itself even within the country. To legally export firearms, parts, or ammunition outside the country requires a license from the ATF. This is not a trivial license to get, and needs to identify who is ultimately going to receive them. Right now about 600 guns a day cross the border into Mexico, but they are not going legally.
- blovescoffee 3y agoThough it’s not like this is just one cartel. It’s all cartels combined. It’s like if you added up all crime or all drug dealers in the US and said that was a single employer.
- yieldcrv 3y agoThat was my observation too Even the article acknowledges that it is clickbait in a variety of ways > Not every member of an organised crime group is involved in violent activities, which means specific subgroups must be targeted separately.
- dumpsterdiver 3y agoI don't think the US has a strong motivation to fight against this particular status quo. Politicians are aware that Americans like drugs, and they're probably very hesitant to put themselves directly between supply and demand. Furthermore, I imagine a line of reasoning exists somewhere that a weak neighbor is a neighbor who can be manipulated. If we need tactical placements in that neighbors back yard, chances are that they can be exclusively acquired through threat of force and bribery (Edit: that is to say, they can be bullied, and the US is the closest and most effective bully around when you're Mexico. Keep in mind they're not just being bullied with threats, but also with promises of a more cooperative and economically entwined future). Realistically, I think pretty much all Americans want to see Mexico succeed. Mexican culture is appreciated and related to here. Sadly, things being the way they are it seems difficult to be the one to actually get in the way of any of the obstacles holding Mexico back.
- 3seashells 3y ago[flagged]