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Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

rollingstone.com

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Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#101

Post by opportune »

paulie_a wrote: post #47
samstave wrote: post #11

How much cocaine can you dissolve in gasoline-based/like solvents to smuggle and then reconstitute? How much cash can you smuggle in the middle of a fuel tanker? How easily/efficiently can oil companies launder money? Why is no one addressing the seemingly obvious truth that the entire world is nothing but a complex corrupt criminal system of lies? Or am I just far too cynical?

The Russian mob did that with the rail distillery McCormick. They dyed the vodka blue and would ship it as window cleaner in 55 gallon drums. Then remove the dye to avoid taxes.

Shitty vodka is so cheap and easy to make, you would think it would be better to just produce the vodka as close to the point of sale as possible

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#102

Post by 2_listerine_pls »

pier25 wrote: post #99
nyolfen wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it says in this article that the fuel theft is cheaper and easier, and one former cartel member says it makes as much money as drugs >their market and margin is much smaller you think there's a smaller market for gasoline than drugs?

For illegal gasoline? Yeah totally. Buying illegal gasoline only makes sense for some individuals in transportation because in Mexico there is no fiscalization on a large portion of the economy (street vendors for example). Big transportation companies couldn't do it. They need to justify expenses, get invoices, etc. A couple of years back it was easy to get fake invoices since everything was on paper, but there was…

Actually, most of the stolen gasoline is purchased by gas stations.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#103

Post by xkcd-sucks »

propman wrote: post #67
21 wrote: post #25

This story collapses a lot of popular narratives. That peoples in USA buying drugs are the drivers of violence in Mexico. That legalizing drugs would make the cartels and the violence disappear.

Legalizing marijuana (btw I’m a huge proponent) was supposed to hurt the cartels and decrease violence but has made cartels much more violent and brutal. Instead of pushing weed across the border, they’ve been heavily pushing Meth, Heroine, and Cocaine instead. Their distribution from the north east to Chicago to LA is insane, they’ve got people hooked on these terrible drugs. Look at the stats of drug deaths from di…

If heroin and morphine were legalized, it could revitalize the Midwest farming economy and prevent deaths from adulterated drugs.

Clearly there is a big market for these drugs, so that commerce might as well be part of the local economy instead of the international black market

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#104

Post by moorhosj »

remarkEon wrote: post #90
21 wrote: post #25

This story collapses a lot of popular narratives. That peoples in USA buying drugs are the drivers of violence in Mexico. That legalizing drugs would make the cartels and the violence disappear.

>That legalizing drugs would make the cartels and the violence disappear. I'm super skeptical of this argument. My sense is that they'd just diversify into other industries and create their own black markets - and it seems they're already doing this.

You should be skeptical of that argument, which is why nobody has ever really used it. Drug cartels have long been in the business of people trafficking, kidnapping, illegal casinos and weapons trafficking. Drugs are one of their most lucrative industries, but certainly not their only income stream.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#105

Post by culot »

xkcd-sucks wrote: post #103
propman wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legalizing marijuana (btw I’m a huge proponent) was supposed to hurt the cartels and decrease violence but has made cartels much more violent and brutal. Instead of pushing weed across the border, they’ve been heavily pushing Meth, Heroine, and Cocaine instead. Their distribution from the north east to Chicago to LA is insane, they’ve got people hooked on these terrible drugs. Look at the stats of drug deaths from di…

If heroin and morphine were legalized, it could revitalize the Midwest farming economy and prevent deaths from adulterated drugs. Clearly there is a big market for these drugs, so that commerce might as well be part of the local economy instead of the international black market

> If heroin and morphine were legalized

Addiction and abuse rates would skyrocket, though. With an availability similar to alcohol, that would begin a plague that would envelop the country with astonishing speed. The problem with those drugs now is already a big problem, but if you put them within reach of every single adult you could bring a country to its knees.

Yes, legalizing them would be a boon for commercial interests, but that is practically the only people who would benefit from this. Oh, and drug treatment industries! They'd become as ubiquitous as mental health businesses. Big Constipation would replace Big Tobacco.

> prevent deaths from adulterated drugs.

The influx of death and destruction introduced by that legalization would make adulterated drug deaths look quaint.

Whatever the solution to this problem is, it won't be full-scale legalization. These drugs that are almost impossible to use responsibly, and are guaranteed to be highly addictive.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#106

Post by culot »

propman wrote: post #89
wolco wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they legalized meth and cocaine that would remove the cartel from the market.

Then they’d push heroin, fenatyl, synthetic opiates, etc. they’d push weapons, other illegal stuff and no way should meth be legal in flyover country. Cocaine is mehh no strong feelings either way there

It seems the bigger problem is not specifically what they are trafficking, but their ability to get it north of the border. Much more stringent border controls are definitely a good idea. That would diminish the seemingly unlimited supply of cheap Mexican labor though. Tough call.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#107

Post by gt565k »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #8

Recommended movie: Elite Squad and especially the sequel Elite Squad: Enemy Within . It's about BOPE, the special operations unit of Rio de Janeiro police. The first is about the military anti-gang exploits, the second is a good hard look at what corruption looks like. The drugs aren't going away if you break up a cartel, neither is the money.

I'd certainly add City of God and City of Men to that list.

Along with Elite Squad, these movies are simply amazing.

Wagner Moura. the main character in Elite Squad, also stars as Pablo Escobar in Netflix's original series Narcos.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0609944/?ref_=tt_cl_t1

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#108

Post by InLispWeTrust »

paulie_a wrote: post #55
onetimemanytime wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia can probably control their mafia. At least convince them not to touch "civilians": Meh, just a bunch on mafiosi killing each other. But if 12 headless people are found hanging from the town's main bridge, that's different, people will be scared.

The Russian government is a mafia, we just call them oligarchs. If one gets a little uppity he gets whacked. The leader is worth 50 billion dollars. It's the sopranos on steroids and has nuclear weapons.

[dead]

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#109

Post by majos »

beenBoutIT wrote: post #69

"The armed conflict between the cartels and Mexico’s military, which has dragged on for 12 years, now ranks as the deadliest war in the world apart from Syria." Do people still voluntarily go on holiday in Mexico?

If nothing else, the cartels are highly incentivized to not harm tourists, as (copious) tourism money also flows into their pockets.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#110

Post by InLispWeTrust »

aylmao wrote: post #79
Bucephalus355 wrote: post #52

Basically Latin America has been like the entire Middle East for the last 10 years. For all Steven Pinker writes about the decline of violence, this cannot be in anyway true about Latin America. The crime rate is up 10% since the early 2000’s, even after aggressive “statistical management” by the governments. After including what crimes aren’t reported, it’s probably closer to 30% or 40%. The Navy Seals have done tra…

> Basically Latin America has been like the entire Middle East for the last 10 years. Have a look at this list (especially during/after the 50s) [1] and tell me what most countries have in common. > Perhaps this was inevitable. I very much disagree. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...

I disagree with your disagreement - if China or Russia or EU or India where at the top they'll interfere in weak countries affairs as much as USA did/does.

If a country population and elites are unable to stand strong together, external forces (e.g. CIA) will find ways to promote foreign interests.

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