Death and spreadsheets: Cartel Excels reveal narco wages

MXPE Weekly Essentials ft. Mexico's new parties, economic growth, AI hacks the government, and other highlights in Mexican politics, policy, and markets from the past week.

MXPE Weekly Essentials. Only the most important news in Mexican politics, policy, and markets from the past week.

Uncharted Mexico: Crime pays (poorly)

“There are no cars. No girls. Just fear for $3000 pesos.” The young man on screen speaks like an influencer, but is clothed in makeshift military attire, stained with blood, and soaked in sweat. His message: Don’t make my mistake and join a cartel. It’s a message tailored for the Mexican government in the days after the killing of Mexico’s top cartel boss, El Mencho. It was almost too perfect—and indeed, it was found that the video had been AI generated, but not before being seen by millions.

But something far more banal helped drive this exact point home. Along with weapons, authorities seized something that gave them far more insight into the life of a cartel: The spreadsheets detailing incomes and salaries for different ranks across the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).

From the beginning of her administration, Claudia Sheinbaum promised to “attack the root causes” of cartel recruitment. At its heart sits Jóvenes Construyendo Futuro, a programme that gives young people access to government-funded paid internships. It has long been criticised for being inefficient and wasteful by the private sector. Yet, the government has insisted that it exists in large part to keep unemployed youngsters, ripe for cartel recruitment, off the streets.

Over 3.3 million people have received the internship grant.

Perhaps Jóvenes Construyendo Futuro won’t be enough to keep everyone away from cartels… But the idea that, even if all goes well, you’ll still end up doing spreadsheets like El Mencho, no doubt will put many a would-be narco off.