Drug Cartels Are Taking Over the Tortilla Business in Mexico
Drug Cartels Are Taking Over the Tortilla Business in Mexico
By Oscar Balderas
March 14, 2016 | 1:00 pm
Samuel ran down the steep dirt track lined with blue and pink houses desperate to escape. The 20-year-old took long strides and ran from one side to the other in a zigzag. He begged for someone to open the door of a house so he could hide, but nobody did. That mid-morning, the poor and violent neighborhood of La Laja in the Mexican resort city of Acapulco seemed suddenly deserted.
A few moments before, three gunmen had burst into a tortilla shop called Los Mangos, where Samuel worked, and started shooting. His only co-worker, Rodolfo, had also escaped those first bullets. But, as Rodolfo fled to the roof he was shot in the back. He fell from the first floor to the ground, dead. His corpse lay at the entrance to the business.
Samuel knew he was the next target as he hurtled down the track. One of the gunmen who looked about the same age as him, took aim and fired his 9mm pistol, but he missed.
This allowed Samuel to reach the tarmac and the possibility of reaching the corner and into an alley that would have taken him out of sight of the hitman. He was within 10 yards of the turn when the bullet pierced his skull and he collapsed to the ground.
The gunmen, thinking their job was done, left.
Samuel ran down this track to try and escape death. (Picture by Daniel Ojeda/VICE News.)
More:
https://news.vice.com/article/drug-cartels-are-taking-over-the-tortilla-business-in-mexico
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