This Mexican City Is So Dangerous That Coke Femsa Is Pulling Out
By-
Bottler cites harassment of employees in Altamirano, Guerrero
-
Distribution facility employing 160 is closing down Friday
A worker loads a delivery truck with empty Coca-Cola bottles in Mexico City, Mexico.
Photographer: Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg
Altamirano in the southwestern state of Guerrero in Mexico is so dangerous that Coca-Cola Femsa is leaving.
Citing two months of harassment of workers by local criminal groups and the lack of an effective police response, the country’s largest bottler said it’s indefinitely closing its distribution operations there starting Friday, affecting about 160 jobs.
“The lack of conditions to efficiently and safely operate in this part of Guerrero and the recent, unjustified aggression to one of our collaborators led the company to this decision,” Coke Femsa said in a statement. Employees had received threats and the company’s facilities had been affected.
The company didn’t elaborate beyond the statement.
At least two mayors of towns in Guerrero have been gunned down recently. The wave of violence coincides with record homicides across Mexico. Last October was the deadliest month of the century, according to data from the Interior Minister.
The company closed another facility in Guerrero in 2014 amid threats to delivery workers.
Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB, better known as Femsa, owns 47 percent of Coke Femsa, according to the company’s website.