Mexico City.- The president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), Francisco Cervantes, acknowledged that there is concern in the IP about the increase in the crime of extortion in the country.
However, he asserted that they are already working “very closely” with the National Guard and that the phenomenon is concentrated in certain points.
-Extortion has increased, is there concern?, he was asked in the National Palace, after the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“Yes, and we are working very closely with the National Guard,” he replied.
-How alarming is it?, he was insisted.
“Well, look, it is worrying in some points, we cannot say that in the whole country, that is not, it is in some points, there are highways, there are communication routes with insecurity and there are cities as well,” he commented.
Extortion increased 17.3 percent in 2022, which has led to alerts from the security cabinet.
Official figures indicate that last year 11,038 victims of this crime were registered throughout the country, based on investigation files initiated by public ministries.
In 2021, state prosecutors reported 9,408 victims to the SESNSP, an increase of 1,630 cases.
Questioned if insecurity is affecting the sector, Cervantes asserted that the IP is doing its part from its trenches.
What businessmen are asking for in this matter, he stressed in the Treasury Hall of the National Palace, is coordination between the three levels of government.
“Look, we have had security in Mexico for years with this issue, right? It is a graph, suddenly it goes up, suddenly it goes down and, well, we are doing what corresponds to us and from our trenches,” he said.
“It is an issue that what we ask for is coordination at the three levels of government because many times it is in the municipalities, we have a map where the issues are very focused.”
Cervantes announced that, in the coming days, the CCE will organize tables and working groups to address security issues, air their “concerns” in this regard, and map crimes.
-What is being said from the US (about security) Isn’t it scaring away investments?, he was questioned.
“We are talking precisely (about this issue) and we are going to have security tables in the coming days to (deal with) many of these issues,” he said.
“So, I don’t want to give an opinion because we are going to have security tables with the business sector, with the Secretary of Security and Sedena also participates. In these meetings, in those tables, working groups, it is where we expose where our concerns are with maps, with data and it is where we ask for the coordination of the three levels of Government”.
After López Obrador affirmed that drug use has grown among workers in the industrial corridor in the center of the country, Cervantes stated that they are going to “check the data.”
Because industrial parks, considered the business leader, should be “very safe.”
“It is an industrial neighborhood, we are going to call it that, and it is a community, and they have security, each one of the companies, and also perimeter security of the parks, so we are going to review this data,” he added.
On another topic, the CCE leader maintained that North America is the most important economically speaking.
“Today we are a region and we are the most important economic region in the world, but we also have many challenges, many concerns,” he added.
Asia is also doing its thing, so how can we keep that leadership so as not to lose it, this translates into jobs and many improvements everywhere.”
