Some of the largest corporations in Mexico are suffering due to extortion demands from drug cartels and gangs that have gained extraordinary influence over the sale of goods in the country.
Last week, one of the largest convenience store chains in Mexico, Femsa, announced it would close almost 200 stores and gas stations in the border city of Nuevo Laredo due to issues with gangs, which have been demanding the company's gas stations buy fuel at inflated prices.
More recently, two store employees were kidnapped by gang members who attempted to force them into acting as informants since the company's stores are often frequented by police officers, soldiers, and rival gang members.
"We had incidents in stores that consisted of them [gangs] demanding we give them certain information, and they even abducted two colleagues to enforce this demand," Roberto Campa, the director of corporate affairs for Femsa, said in an interview with local media outlets.
Mexican prosecutors in April accused the Familia Michoacana cartel, which has been sanctioned by the United States for manufacturing fentanyl, of forcing vendors in small stores and markets to buy and sell chicken that was "not fit for human consumption" at almost twice the typical price.
Julio Almanza, the head of a Mexican business chambers' federation in the state of Tamaulipas was shot and killed earlier this week just hours after he described his organization's members as "hostages to extortion demands" and "of criminal groups" in a televised interview.
"Charging extortion payments has practically become the national sport in Tamaulipas," Almanza said.
According to the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico's latest Business Security Survey, six in 10 Mexican companies said they were affected by crime in the last year, including organized crime, with 12% saying they "believe that organized crime groups have taken partial control of the sale and/or distribution of the products they sell."
Information from The Associated Press was used to compile this report.