Post date: Dec 11, 2010 9:25:36 PM
Mexican businesses from northern states head to capital to escape drug wars.
MEXICO CITY BUSINESSES - Small business owners are fleeing in droves to the relative safety of Mexico City as the nationwide war on drugs worsens.
For them, lower homicide rates and fewer clashes between police and drug cartels mean better bottom lines.
COPARMEX BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, JUAN DE DIOS BARBA, SAYING:"Well, of course Mexico City has some problems in security matters-- we're not going to understate that-- however, we have to be very clear about it: fortunately, in Mexico City we don't have the levels of violence that we see in the cities in the northern part of the country. We have achieved some improvements In some administrative areas: we have eliminated some areas where administrators had discretion and this eliminates areas for corruption."
Some 5,000 businesses have already made the move, including scores of restaurants, shops and professional offices.
Several larger investors have also left the region.
Mexico's northern states nearest the U.S. border have seen some of the worst violence in decades, with drug lords battling each other over smuggling routes.
Homicide rates in these states have more than doubled since 2007 and there seems no end to the violence in sight.
But even the capital may provide little relief from drug lords as authorities warn they are beginning to encroach on the city's outskirts.
Fourteen municipalities bordering Mexico City have reported a 50 percent increase in drug killings this year.
Gangs have also become more brazen in the area, hanging bodies of rivals from bridges in a city just an hour away from the capital and dumping skinned heads in the popular resort community of Acapulco.
Businesses have reported extortion at the hands of gangs affiliated with major cartels as well.
Despite this, officials remain optimistic due to the president's security efforts and the thousands of cameras installed around the city.
Jessica Gray, Reuters