Drug Profits Fuel Mexico
Profits laundered in Mexico from the illegal drug trade are believed to be as high as $15 billion annually, Latin Trade magazine says.
The figure is equivalent to 5% of Mexico’s gross domestic product.
If the flow is stopped, Mexico’s economy could be seriously destabilized, the Miami-based business monthly said in a special report in its September issue.
The border state of Sonora has become a main shipping center for cocaine from Bolivia, Peru and Colombia heading into the United States, as well as for home-grown marijuana.
“While the drugs go in one direction, the money from the trade comes back in the other, often in the same false-bottomed containers, yachts and donkey packs in which the drugs went north,” the magazine said.
The money is invested in real estate and the Mexican stock and bond markets.
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