SPLIT REALITY: U.S. Consul Exposes Rampant Cartel Extortion as Mexican Officials Downplay Crisis

A top U.S. diplomat assigned to the border state of Tamaulipas shed light on the growing problem of cartel extortion in Mexican border cities. At the same time, local and state government officials continue to push a false rhetoric of safety, claiming that crime is in constant decrease.

Late last week, Mary Virginia Hantsch, the U.S. Consul in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, met with officials in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, where she highlighted the dramatic increase in cartel extortion.

According to Hantsch, two out of every three companies in the region she works in are being extorted by organized crime. She said the extortion hits people at all levels, from street vendors to mid-size companies and, in some cases, large manufacturing and multinational companies, including U.S.-owned ones that provide jobs to thousands in the region. Most of those products eventually end up in the U.S. market and, as such, guaranteeing their production facilities and routes is imperative, she said.

Credit: U.S. Consulate General Matamoros

Her comments directly clash with the ongoing narrative pushed by the Tamaulipas state government which, as Breitbart News Foundation reported, has been constantly pushing the false image that the region is one of the safest in the country. To promote that image, Tamaulipas officials continue pushing doctored crime statistics that do not reflect the reality of life in the state and severely undercount or ignore high-impact crimes such as extortion, kidnapping, forced disappearances, and murder.

This week, Mexico’s top security official Omar Garcia Harfuch highlighted the arrest of several low-level members of the Gulf Cartel in connection with extortion schemes in the border city of Reynosa. Harfuch pointed to individuals forcing local businesses to buy from cartel-approved vendors, something Breitbart News Foundation reported