[REVISION HISTORY]

Extortion and economic pressure on Mexican businesses

Updated 3 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-28 11:32 UTC → 2026-09-08 00:57 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Small businesses in Mexico face severe economic pressure from rising inflation and organized crime. The National Alliance of Small Merchants (ANPEC) previously reported that extortion demands on neighborhood stores increased from 200 to a minimum of 500 ~~pesos, while 89% of shop owners noted inflation has more severely impacted their businesses compared to the previous year.~~ pesos. While local data in Puebla showed a 33 percent decrease in reported extortion cases to the State Attorney General's Office between January and July compared to the previous year, Beatriz Camacho, president of Coparmex in Puebla, warned that extortion has entrepreneurs ‘on their knees’ by limiting productivity. Nationally, ~~the Security Monitor reported 6,562 victims in the first half of 2026, a 9.17 percent increase over the same period in 2025.~~ Coparmex reports that ‘cobro de piso’ (protection money) is the most impactful crime for its members, affecting 18 percent of surveyed businesses. Telephone extortion is the most frequent modality, occurring in four out of every ten cases. In Tabasco, Agustín Gómez Sánchez of the Center for Attention to Reports of Extortion (CADDE) identified physical visits, fraudulent text messages, and ‘gota a gota’ lending as primary methods. Notably, Coparmex observed that in nearly 20 percent of extortion cases, perpetrators were authorities or individuals impersonating public servants. High victimization rates were recorded in Michoacán (58.7 percent), Nayarit (56 percent), and Jalisco (56 percent). By the first quarter of 2026, Coparmex reported that investment sentiment among its members dropped to 23 percent, a six-year ~~low representing a 16.5 percentage point decline.~~ low. Juan José Sierra Álvarez, president of Coparmex, noted that business expansion plans are retreating, with intentions to increase staff, branches, or products falling from 62.8 percent to 50.3 percent. ~~Sierra Álvarez stated that companies have shifted from expansion to containment strategies, a move driven by economic, political,~~ To combat these trends, business leaders in the State of Mexico and ~~security uncertainty.~~ Tamaulipas are urging victims to formalize complaints, noting that approximately 97 percent of extortion cases go unreported nationally.

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