A Mexican army guard stands in front of $26.2 million seized from a house in northwestern Sinaloa state, it was the second largest cash haul in the country's history. STR, AFP/Getty ImagesCuliacan, Mexico, Feels The Pain Of A Drug-Induced
Recession -- L.A. Times
Recession -- L.A. Times
The Mexican government's crackdown on drug traffickers has sent the big players underground, along with all their free-flowing dollars.
Reported from Culiacan, Mexico -- A ruby-red Hummer glistened idly on the quiet showroom floor, its only visitor a janitor polishing its doors and bumpers. The dealership had no customers.
Sales are down here and at scores of businesses across this western Mexico city. But this recession has nothing to do with stock-index dives on Wall Street, the weak peso or collapsing banks. This is a narco-recession.
When army troops rolled into Culiacan this year as part of a massive government campaign to fight drug traffickers, the big players went underground. From the looks of things, they took their free-flowing dollars with them.
"No one wants to be ostentatious right now," said Raul Gustavo Piña Ibarra, manager of the Hummer and Cadillac dealership.
That's bad news for a city that is the birthplace of Mexico's multibillion-dollar illegal drug trade and the embodiment of its every excess.
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My Comment: I am not going to shed any tears for drug dealers and their enablers.