Many Mexican cartels have expanded far beyond drugs, creating vast extortion networks that allow them to shake down a variety of businesses, including tortilla producers. "There used to be a handful of big cartels like Sinaloa or Tijuana. Now there's really hundreds of crime groups. Not all of them are directly involved in drugs," explains Mary Beth Sheridan, who reported on the issue for The Washington Post. "When the war on drugs happened in Mexico, a lot of the big capos were captured or killed, so a lot of the groups split into smaller groups, and they have gotten into everything from illegal gasoline smuggling to extortion of all kinds to kidnapping, illegal mineral extraction, and illegal logging."
Tortillerias are in every town throughout Mexico and are largely a cash business, making them a big target. During the last five years, Antonio Vasquez, president of the State Tortilla Makers Association in Cuernavaca, says he has seen an increase in violence including shops riddled with gunfire or set on fire. It's estimated that 15% of the country's 20,000 tortillerias have fallen prey to the cartels.
"The tortilla industry is actually being hit in different ways by organized crime," Sheridan says. "One of them is extortion. But what I found out was, all through the chain of production, you see the growing influence of organized crime in the Mexican economy. For example, the best corn for tortillas comes from Sinaloa. Organized crime has penetrated the public water system, so that their allies who are farmers, don't have to pay for the water. Other people have to pay extra. Then you have the transportation of the corn. There's now a very organized bunch of groups that attack tractor trailers and big trucks. Now the tortilla shop owners have to pay for insurance to have these truckloads of corn. So in the end, it does affect the price of the tortillas."
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador worked to prevent young people from joining cartels by offering them more social programs and scholarships. He has also created a patrolling National Guard. At the same time, the Army continues to operate against drug cartels and other kinds of crime groups. Newly-elected Mexican president Claudia Scheinbaum does say that she wants to take an approach to crime-fighting that relies more on intelligence and was effective in Mexico City.