The curtain opens and the stage is of fire
The news of the alleged capture of Nemesio Oseguera, ‘El Mencho’, did not come with a siren of victory. It arrived with columns of smoke and roads turned into trenches. While the authorities remain silent, the facts shout: an ambulance that according to versions was transporting his body and a country in flames.
Entrepreneurs, those who usually measure their words like coins, today speak with the urgency of those who see their business burning. The Business Coordinating Council (CCE) says it bluntly: there are blockades, fires, destroyed infrastructure in eleven states.
“From the CCE we strongly condemn any act of violence that puts the integrity of the population at risk”
But condemnation is not enough. What they really fear is economic collapse. When trucks don’t roll, factories stop. And when factories stop, jobs are lost. It is simple and brutal mathematics.
The script that no one wrote
Coparmex enters the drama with a more pragmatic role. It asks employers to “act with caution and flexibility”, an elegant euphemism for saying: close if you must close, protect your people.
“Today more than ever we must take care of the progress of our country and ensure its reputation”
That’s where the real fear is. Not only to fire on the road, but to fire in international markets. Each image of chaos also burns the confidence of investors.
The dramatic thing is the contrast: on the one hand, the supposed triumph against the most wanted boss. On the other, the daily reality of closed businesses and frightened families. My father was right: politics—and the war on drugs—always ends at the door of your house.
The corporate message is clear as broken glass: capturing a man is not enough if you free the monster of anarchy. They demand firm signals, coordination, institutional presence. Basically, they ask that the State act as a State.
Meanwhile, in eleven Mexican states, the smoke continues to rise. And behind each column, there is a family that does not know if there will be work tomorrow, a product that will not reach its destination, an economy that contracts with each barricade.
The second act of this drama is yet to be written. And we all hope—with our hearts in our hands—that it is not a tragedy.
