Mexican drug cartel diversifies into illegal mining Quebec campaign hurts con dence
LA ZARO CAR DENAS, MEXICO — Forget crystal meth. The pseudo-religious Knights Templar drug cartel in western Mexico has diversified to the point that drug trafficking doesn’t even rank among its top sources of income.
The cartel counts illegal mining, logging and extortion as its biggest moneymakers, said Alfredo Castillo, the Mexican government’s special envoy sent $1.09 billion as investors added $2.84 billion of stocks, Statistics Canada said Monday.
The report extends the pattern set last year, when international investors favoured the country’s stocks ahead of Canadian government debt. to restore the rule of law in Michoacan, the state controlled by the Knights Templar the last several years.
Iron ore “is their principle source of income,” Castillo told The Associated Press.
“They’re charging $15 US (a metric ton) for the process, from extraction to transport, processing, storage, permits and finally export.”
The ore itself doesn’t go for that price; the cartel skims $15 for every ton arriving in port.
While it has long been known that Mexican cartels engage in other types of criminal activity, including trafficking of people and pirated goods, this is the government’s first official acknowledgment that a major organized crime group has moved beyond drugs.
The Knights Templar and its predecessor, La Familia, started out as major
Transnet Freight Rail says the total contract is worth 50 billion rand or about $5.16 billion.
Bombardier’s announcement didn’t disclose how much its share of the contract is worth.
Transnet said Bombardier Transportation and CSR producers and transporters of methamphetamine.
The implications are enormous that organized crime in general in Mexico stands to diversify and become even more entrenched.
Authorities have seized 119,000 metric tons of iron ore stored at several yards in Lazaro Cardenas and say they have liberated the wholesale lime centre by taking over the farming hub of Apatzingan. Zhuzhou Electric will supply 599 electric locomotives for its system. Another 465 OTTAWA — Quebec’s election campaign is helping stem gains in Canadian consumer confidence, weekly polling indicates, amid escalating talk of a referendum on secession.
The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index fell to 58.4 in the week ending March 14 from a prior reading of 59.2, halting four weeks of gains. Confidence fell the most in Quebec, where an election campaign is underway that polls show may return the separatist Parti Québécois to power on April 7 with a majority government.