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Mexico’s Hijacking Surge: Analysis by Mark Vickers on Global Americans
In a recent article for Global Americans, Mark Vickers explains:
“According to data published by Mexico’s federal government that was compiled and analyzed by Reliance Partners, during the first nine months of 2023, Mexico reported 6,030 hijackings, up over 8 percent from 5,578 during the same period of 2022. Mexico’s largest industrial business chamber, CONCAMIN, calculates that cargo hijacking imposes annual costs of up to 5 percent of GDP on companies in the country’s private sector. Overall, according to the Mexico Cargo Hijacking Data Portal, 85.5 percent of hijackings recorded during the first nine months of 2023 took place in 3 states: Mexico State, Puebla, and Michoacan.
All of these states are in the central/southern region of Mexico, near Mexico City, a relatively long distance from the U.S. border. By contrast, just 1 percent of all hijackings occurred in Mexico’s northern border states during the same period. The southern state of Oaxaca, one of Mexico’s least industrialized states, saw a 110 percent jump in cargo hijackings during the first nine months of 2023. Tellingly, eight out of the ten states that received the lowest levels of foreign direct investment are in Mexico’s under-developed south. States that are largely missing out on the influx of foreign capital include Tabasco, Veracruz, and Oaxaca.