HomeNewsBrief'Mexico Mining Ops Pay Hefty Extortion Fees to Cartels'
BRIEF

'Mexico Mining Ops Pay Hefty Extortion Fees to Cartels'

ILLEGAL MINING / 8 MAY 2012 BY EDWARD FOX EN

Mexican criminal organizations like the Zetas and Gulf Cartel may be charging mines up to $37,000 a month in "security" fees, a practice more commonly seen in Colombia.

Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR) has opened twelve investigations into extortion threats faced by some 300 mines across the country, reported Excelsior. The Zetas, the Gulf Cartel and the Knights Templar (Caballeros Templarios) are identified as the groups mostly deeply involved in running such extortion schemes.

Mining companies are pressured to pay between $11,000 to $37,000 a month for the rights to operate in a criminal group's "plaza," or territory. If this is not paid, the company's directors, family members, and the miners themselves are threatened with attacks, according to an official from the PGR.

The PGR has reportedly created an inter-agency investigative team, made up of officials from the state government level, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Public Security, aimed at protecting the mining industry. The threat against the mining sector is serious enough to be considered a national security issue, one official from the organized crime division of the PGR told Excelsior.

InSight Crime Analysis

Mexico is one of Latin America's richest sources for minerals and its mining industry has been growing in recent years, valued at $10 billion in 2009. This has attracted unwanted attention from drug gangs looking to diversify their financial sources. As a 2010 report by Reuters describes, violent gangs attack, kidnap, extort, and sell drugs to miners throughout Mexico.

But extortion and kidnapping are not the only threats faced by mining operations in Mexico. Since 2008, criminal groups have reportedly stolen some $3 million worth in gold shipments, favoring the mineral as a way of laundering "dirty" money. Such thefts become so common that some companies have been forced to switch to aerial, rather than ground, transportation in order to move their mineral extracts.

The extortion of mining operations is a big money-maker for Colombia's criminal groups. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), along with drug gangs like the Rastrojos and Urabeños, have all been linked to the extortion of gold mines, either charging a tax on the machinery or running the mining operations themselves so as to profit directly from mineral sales.

So far it seems that Mexican criminal groups are more focused on charging mining companies the right to operate in their "plaza," rather than taxing the material produced in the mine or the equipment. But groups like the Familia Michoacana have already shown interest in taking on a more direct role in the mining trade, selling illegally extracted minerals as a side business. Mexico's mining trade has long represented a significant part of the national economy. For criminal groups looking for a wealthy and well-developed industry to extort, the mining sector is an attractive option.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCAINE / 15 MAR 2023

Australia and New Zealand are the most expensive cocaine markets in the world. For the Sinaloa Cartel, it's worth the…

HUMAN RIGHTS / 13 MAY 2022

The death of two indigenous leaders in Guerrero, Mexico, has again drawn attention to the government’s negligent protection of indigenous…

HOMICIDES / 4 AUG 2021

Families combing for clues about their vanished loved ones at recently discovered extermination sites in northern Mexico have turned to…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…