Far from the border, Mexico’s safest state is moving closer to the US

Mexico’s safest state is betting big on nearshoring in hopes of luring foreign investors fed up with rising crime and government corruption in other parts of the country.

Yucatan, which covers about one-third of its namesake peninsula, has historically had low crime, partly due to its geographic isolation from the rest of the country.

But under Gov. Mauricio Villa, the state has sharply increased security spending from about $875 million a year to about $2.1 billion.

“What I’ve talked to with some governors is that once you commit a crime; [in your state]it costs 10 times more than prevention,” Vila told The Hill in a recent interview.

“What we’ve done is invest in security. Look at it as an investment, not an expense, because security is also a competitive advantage when it comes to attracting investment.”

Past security investments are paying off, at least in some way: The State Department notes that: Travel advisories by state in Mexicoand Yucatan and its southwestern neighbor Campeche are the only two states in the “take normal precautions” category.

Yucatan is not only relatively safe; According to Mexican federal data, the state’s homicide rate in 2022 was about 2 per 100,000 residents. state officials say In 2023, the intentional homicide rate was 0.81 per 100,000 people.

“For companies that are already deeply integrated into the U.S. and Mexican economies, think of people in the auto industry, they may want to go to Mexico, but in which state and in which location in Mexico? Obvious , it will depend on what they see in the local environment,” said Andrew Rudman, director of the Wilson Center Mexico Institute.

However, national issues still affect the nation. According to , Mexico’s national homicide rate in 2022 was 25 per 100,000 people. federal statistics.

“Certainly there is a geographical advantage in that most of the drug routes are along the coast. [Vila is] Far from it,” Rudman said.

“When I met him probably five or six months ago, they were talking about how trucks weren’t hijacked in Yucatan, but what happens when a truck leaves the state. It was a concern that businesses had.”

Mr. Vila’s pitch to investors concerned about the situation in other parts of Mexico is infrastructure.

“If there’s one thing I have to realize, [President Andrés Manuel López Obrador] “It’s his rhetoric about strengthening the southeastern part of the country — and in Yucatan, it’s becoming a reality with these infrastructure projects,” Vila said.

“We are generating before-and-after infrastructure and today it helps promote the state and the government.” [to say] we also have the same [business] The situation is similar to that of the Bajío region and the northern part of the country. ”

Vila is one of the few opposition leaders who has maintained a friendly and productive relationship with López Obrador.

He is a member of the center-right National Action Party, which has opposed López Obrador throughout his political career and currently supports the president’s pet projects such as the Maya Train, a train that circles the Yucatan Peninsula. I am also against it.

“The reality is that even though we are from different parties, we have had a very good relationship with the federal government. That doesn’t mean we don’t have differences, but we are more a coincidence. ,” Billa said.

He added that he supports the much-maligned Maya Rail project not only for its tourism purposes, but also for the Yucatan state, other parts of the country, and Salina, a port relatively close to Mexico’s Pacific coast. He added that this is because it is a project that connects Cruz.

Vila said the project to transport containers by rail from Salina Cruz is in a “soft launch” stage, but combined with a new natural gas pipeline to the power industry, it will open up Yucatan as a manufacturing hub.

The state’s main port, Progreso, is less than 600 miles south of New Orleans in a straight line across the Gulf of Mexico, with ports including Mobile, Alabama, and Houston taking 48 hours.

“The reality is that today we are not only competing with other states in the republic. When we want to attract investment, we are competing with Vietnam, Indonesia and many other countries, especially Asian countries.” Mr. Bila said.