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Business Daily: Drugs and GDP in Mexico

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Drugs and GDP in Mexico

02/05/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Drugs and GDP in Mexico

How the drugs cartels both support and undermine the Mexican economy.

How Mexico became a by-word for drugs cartels - and how they both support and undermine the economy. Katy Watson investigates.

Katy Watson in Acapulco explores why Mexico has become such a hub for the global drugs trade. Acapulco was once a holiday destination for Hollywood stars but is now one of the most violent cities in the world with a terrifying murder rate. 

Katy asks why Mexico has become a by-word for drugs cartels - and how the government and the US are trying to tackle the trade. Adrian Alarcon Rios, president of business group Coparmex Chilpancingo tells Katy that some business owners are arming themselves against the cartels, for whom extortion and kidnap is a common revenue stream. 

Journalist Ioan Grillo - who explores these challenges in his book Gangster Warlords - explains why some people see the cartels as a positive, in parts of Mexico where they have been the main employer, but how their activities stifle investment. 

Plus Oliver Wack, Control Risks associate director for global risk analysis for the Andean region argues that a change of approach may be needed to tackle the drugs trade, and this could include the legalisation of some drugs.

(Picture: Guns, ammo and material seized in the arrest drugs cartel members; Credit: Julio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images)

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