Mexican drug lords get firm grip on country’s mines

In addition to obtaining immense profits from their mining ventures Mexico’s drug cartels can also avail themselves of a convenient means of legitimizing and diversifying their earnings. Licit high-income businesses make it easy for the cartels to launder their illegal proceeds.
The entry of Mexico’s drug cartels into the mining sector has a nearby precedent in Colombia, where local drug barons often took up stakes in gold and coal mines.
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