By Brandon Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – As Mexico divests much of its attention to cracking down on the nation’s drug cartel and related violence, there has been a surge in the number of extortions.  This year alone there have been 5,335 reported exertion attempts, which is already as many attempts as all of 2012.

An increasing number of the extortions are based on Internet usage.  Experts say that criminals can gain access to information on social networks, which they use to take advantage of a person’s excessive trust.  They determine what a person looks like, their age, address, and financial and family information  Then, they use phones and/or computer messages to “extort or commit some type of illegal action against the [targeted] person.”

Mexican authorities believe the increase in extortion is attributable to their efforts in breaking up the drug cartels.  They say as the chain of command in a cartel is destroyed, many of the gunmen and traffickers routinely employed by the cartel become desperate for income and resort to extortion.  The desperation is evident in the targets of extortion, which include multinational businesses and corner stores.

Vacationers have also been targeted.  Guests at dozens of hotels have reported that they received calls from strangers claiming “they would be kidnapped if they didn’t pay.”  According to security officials, the amount of payment demanded has ranged from $380 to $1,500.  While most vacationers report the crime to security and do not pay, the threat of extortion is still unsettling.  Security Expert Jorge Chabat says that extortion “affects all economic activity [and] it discourages investment [in Mexico].”

According to federal security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez, “The person who is a victim of extortion lives in a state of permanent kidnapping [and] they live in fear.”  Dr. Roman Gaviria, an extortion victim, has echoed that sentiment.

Gaviria, who received calls demanding $20,000, had three armed men barge into his pharmacy; he was able to escape and killed two of the men in the process.  He says that from now on his “life has been an imprisonment in my own home.”  Although police officers are stationed near his pharmacy, he sees members of the gang that stalked him lurking and believes they are being protected by corrupt police officers.

While reported extortions are at an all time high, authorities believe that the majority of extortions go unreported.  Sanchez, meanwhile, is not sure whether there is an increase in the number or whether people feel more comfortable going to the police.  Either way, according to the National Statistics Institute 92% of extortions are not reported.  Additionally, NSI reports that extortion is the second most common crime in Mexico, trailing only robbery.

 

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Mexico’s Crackdown on Drugs Spurs Extortion Wave – 14 October 2013

First Post – Internet used as extortion tool in Mexico – 14 October 2013

IBN – In Mexico, The Internet Is Also An Extortion Tool – 14 October 2013

Washington Post – Mexico’s Crackdown On Drugs Feeds Expanding Wave Of Extortions – 14 October 2014