How organized criminals caused a tortilla shortage

My previous post was about crime and my penultimate post was about tortillas, so it’s probably fitting that this post is about crime and tortillas.

Today, El Universal reported that the city of Celaya, Guanajuato is experiencing a tortilla shortage as a result of ongoing protests by tortilla makers, who have shut their doors to call attention to the climate of fear in which they operate. Since last year, violence has skyrocketed in Guanajuato state, which has made Celaya one the most dangerous cities in Mexico. Organized criminals, have been targeting tortillerías to pay extortion demands in the form a monthly “operating tax” that can range from $3,000 (CAD 200; USD 150) to as high as $50,000 (CAD 3,400; USD 2,500)—amounts impossible to pay for businesses that make only a small profit. A full 95% of tortillerías in the city report being victims of extortion.

Most of Celaya’s tortillerías closed Saturday through Monday to highlight the need for improved security. Despite this, at around 5 o’clock on Monday afternoon, three women at Tortillería La Indita were gunned down in their shop, which had remained open during the protests. As a result, most of the city’s tortillerías remained shuttered through today. Residents walking the streets in search of tortillas lamented the situation; one woman grumbled that since none of the tortillerías were open, she’d have to buy tortillas at the supermarket—something no self-respecting Mexican would do since everyone knows that supermarket tortillas are the absolute worst.