Highways, runways and hospitals: The fruits of Mexico’s drug cartels

Mexican drug cartels not only have the resources to build their own infrastructure but have created legitimate construction firms that simulate tax payments, according to an expert. 

“It’s a way in which they launder their money and also have control over the infrastructure that they’re building. So this is a model that I think will continue to be replicated, especially in states where there’s not much government control: Sinaloa, Guerrero, Michoacán, Veracruz and even in the south of Mexico state,” independent political risk, security and strategic intelligence consultant Eduardo Ordóñez told BNamericas. 

Although the trend is not new, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador warned in recent days that several clandestine runways were detected by the army in the Lacandon jungle that are used to traffic narcotics. 

Asked about the location and number of these runways, Ordóñez said: “There is no exact figure because in the end they are built in very remote areas. We have these types of runways in Coahuila, Sonora, Sinaloa, Guerrero and Oaxaca.”

While the works are generally rustic and improvised, Ordóñez said, “I do not rule out the possibility that some are built with cement.”

Local media recently reported damage to road infrastructure that was supposedly caused by the cartels to restrict the army and the national guard’s transit. For example, daily La Silla Rota said Thursday that a highway that connects Tamaulipas state capital Ciudad Victoria with the Nicolás, San Carlos, Burgos and Méndez municipalities was destroyed by the Noreste cartel. 

“Regarding the destruction of roads, I have information that they are doing it a lot in Michoacán and parts of Jalisco to prevent the public [security] forces or the army … from entering rural communities. This also occurs very often along the entire border between Michoacán and Jalisco,” Ordóñez said, adding that the damage is done with heavy machinery. 

Construction firms

According to Ordóñez, drug cartels such as Familia Michoacana have set up “legitimate construction firms” that help them purchase materials, lease equipment and hire workers, in addition to laundering money.

“They even have control of some legally constituted construction companies. It’s not an illegal business … and they even use people who are not linked to the criminal group,” he said.

Local media have also tracked down several cases in which cartels gain the support of communities by providing them with basic infrastructure needs. 

In 2020, several outlets reported that drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as ‘El Mencho’ and who is head of the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel (CJNG), built a hospital in the El Alcíhuatl community of Jalisco state.