Small Business Falls Victim To The War In Mexico

As the War for the Existence of Mexico continues, there is a group of victims that so far has gone unsung.  That is the small businesses trying to grow, or even to simply remain "in business" in the face of the this war.  According to Bloomberg Business Magazine http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-06/mexico-s-boom-obscures-harm-done-to-small-companies-by-narcotics-violence.html  many small businesses are having to pay the cartels "protection" money simply to keep their doors open.  In cities where more than one cartel operates, it is possible that business owners must pay protection to two or more cartels.  This of course cuts into the profits of these small businesses.  The amount of profit loss cannot be accurately appraised due to lack of statistics on this kind of thing.  On top of profit loss, small businesses are losing customers due to the perceived (and ACTUAL) risk of being caught in the sudden gun battles that frequently erupt on the street.  For the same reason, it is difficult for some of these businesses to maintain adequate numbers of employees or to protect them at work.  In fact, company owners are dressing like employees so that they themselves are not targets of kidnappings for ransom.

On the other hand, large businesses continue to thrive in this unhealthy climate.  For one thing, large concerns have the ability to hire security and to fortify their property.  Larger businesses are also able to install video systems to curtail illegal activity on or near their property.  The resources available to these companies allow them to pressure the police and government to solve crimes involving these businesses or to make sure their properties are adequately patrolled, while the remainder of these cities go virtually without police protection.  In fact, according to Bloomberg, several American businesses are actually building new facilities in these war-torn areas, or expanding their existing facilities.  Workers in these businesses earn over twice as much as the average municipal officer.  It is actually little wonder that many police officers do not want to risk their lives for this kind of pay. 

President Calderon, in one of his more lucid moments, has called for the establishment of "unified state police forces" to replace local police.  His reasoning is that higher paid, better trained, and better equipped police officers who answer to a central state authority would be more motivated to bring order to Mexican cities and less pressured to look the other way as criminals terrorize the nation.  Also, the Mexican people would possibly have more trust and confidence in state police.  As it stands, many citizens are afraid to report crime or supply information because they cannot be certain that the very officers they confide in are not working for the cartels.  This is a very valid concern, as has been borne out by the arrest of police officers for their involvement with the cartels.

In the meantime, small businesses continue their struggle to survive as the war in Mexico rages on.  In Monterrey and its suburbs, as only one example, there have been 954 drug war-related homicides as of October of this year.  Over the entire nation the death toll was around 10,000 in the same time period.  Small businesses are losing both customers and profits in this war, with many small businesses ultimately closing.  Others, though, continue to keep on keeping on in spite of, and possibly in defiance of, the drug cartels' demands for "protection" fees and the constant danger these business owners face, not just in keeping their businesses open, but simply existing, as their cities and their nation fall apart around them.