Los Zetas Become Corporate Narcos

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Vanguardia

                          Los Zetas go from being narcos to be a "company" in the energy sector

One of the most bloodthirsty cartels in the country, Los Zetas, has achieved a dominant position not only because of its brutal power, but also because of the business practices that bring it closer to the behavior of a company. That is the impressive conclusion reached by the specialist Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera.

In a widely documented story that  became the book Los Zetas Inc . -Published by Planeta, in its Temas collection of today-, the academic and researcher Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera reveals how the Los Zetas cartel , initially formed by ex-soldiers who served as assassins, organized each of its commercial practices in a corporate manner, they included contraband, kidnapping and piracy of music and movies.

Of special mention is the incursion of Los Zetas into the illegal trade of crude oil, natural gas and gasoline, not only by means of robbery or looting, but also with the use of façade companies that take advantage of the constitutional changes made in the sexennium of the President Enrique Peña Nieto to the legislation of the Mexican energy sector.

 In addition, the author -who is associate professor of the Schar School of Politics and Government at George Mason University, in Virginia, United States- affirms that the government's strategy of confronting drug trafficking by means of weapons contributed to the  situation in the country that now resembles that of a civil war that yields economic benefits for some. 

This specific investigation reveals the keys to understanding a structure with which this faction of organized crime has become practically a new type of transnational corporation.

The researcher compares the Los Zetas cartel with three large transnational companies to try to understand its operation: the first is Exxon Mobil, a corporate in the energy sector with multiple subsidiaries; the second is Halliburton, an investment company that also dominates in the field of hydrocarbons, and the third is Blackwater, dedicated to providing security services.

This leads to a central question: Who benefits from the violence promoted by cartels such as Los Zetas?

Lupita Correa affirms that the favored ones are several actors: the corporations of the energy sector, the transnational financial companies, the firms that offer private security, the banks and the military and industrial security complex of the border in the United States.