Mexico: descent into chaosInternational companies in Mexico now target for cartel attacks
Until recently, few criminals dared to touch the factories and offices of the hundreds of multinational corporations — or maquilas — in Reynosa, Maxico; amid a violent three-way war among two cartels and the military, the maquilas are no longer untouched; none of the 140 maquiladoras in Reynosa’s eleven industrial parks have pulled out of the area, but many have developed exit strategies in case the violence does not abate
The gunmen charged after midnight Friday, making off with uniforms and at least five trucks from the world’s largest oilfield services company. It is unclear whether the attackers were from a drug cartel or how they even managed to bypass the security gate and guards at the Schlumberger Ltd. compound on the western outskirts of Reynosa. In a city wracked by drug violence, where many describe government control as illusory, information is scarce.
The Monitor’s Sean Gaffney and Jared Taylor writes that until recently, few criminals dared to touch the factories and offices of the hundreds of multinational corporations in Reynosa. Amid a violent three-way war among two cartels and the military, they are no longer untouched.
Cartels have commandeered cargo trucks loaded with goods and buses for factory workers to create impromptu roadblocks. Factories have canceled shifts on violent nights when they felt it was too unsafe for workers to leave home or when they couldn’t catch the bus.
The upsurge in violence has impacted the bottom line, making some of Reynosa’s industrial giants wonder when enough will be enough, factory managers said.
“We’re at a tipping point. If something is not done, there’s going to be an impact to this (industry),” one factory manager said. “We’re pretty resourceful. We’ll go to other countries, or we’ll go back to the U.S.”
None of the 140 maquiladoras in Reynosa’s eleven industrial parks are pulling out of the area, managers said, but many have developed exit strategies in case the violence does not abate. For now, the majority of the manufacturers have barred non-essential travel to Mexico, and many of those factories’ vendors and suppliers now refuse to cross the border, according to managers and industry insiders.
In the short term, they’re taking a wait-and-see approach,” said Keith Patridge, president and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corp., an organization that has aggressively recruited manufacturers to Reynosa for more than two decades. They’re engaged in “scenario planning: What happens if it gets worse?”
Gaffney and Taylor write that maquila managers spoke about the difficulty of running a business amid the violence on the condition that their names not be used. Some of the city’s industrial parks are not secure and managers are afraid they will be killed if they talk.
On 30 March one manager encountered gunmen as they positioned trucks and buses into a roadblock along the highway, said several other managers as they recounted what has become
