Beyond The Headlines With Ana Dibu About Mexico

And Maria de Boer is a political scientist and geopolitical strategist focused on global conflicts, political risk, and the interaction of power, crime, and security. And Maria, this is a special edition for Executive Checkpoint. We're calling it Beyond the Headlines, where we move past the news and get into the security realities leaders actually need to understand. How are you?

I am wonderful. Thank you so much for having me. We're diving into something that's really interesting and can divert into many, many, many pathways.

Absolutely. And, you know, to be fair to the audience, this is something that I want to do with you know, high-level conversations at the executive level. And of course, in your case, as an expert in Latin America, you've been collaborating with a lot of security companies in Mexico specifically. So a lot is happening in Mexico. The international headlines about Mexico over the last few weeks have focused heavily on cartel violence and government crackdown, but executives operating in this country often describe a much more complex reality. So, Ana María, what is the biggest misunderstanding about global business leaders that is important to put in context specifically with security in Mexico?

What I want to start with is bringing awareness around the fact that all these corporation leaders that look toward Mexico, they either see it as an unregulated place where anything can go, because of the cartels and all the violence, or they undermine what's actually going on in Mexico because they, they are not there. They don't see it. They don't live it. So therefore they think it's just something that happens somewhere and it's not going to impact them or their business. With that said, Mexico is definitely extremely prepared for situations like this. I'm very confident that not only the government but also the private sector were prepared for things of this kind, maybe not this magnitude, but of this kind to happen. So therefore, I think the biggest misconception would be that they either are not prepared or cannot handle, or it's something that, you know, is so far removed from them.

And, you know, something we were talking about earlier, and that's a great point, that distance sometimes creates complacency, right? They feel, like you said, at the executive level, like, well, something that the locals will handle, right?

Yes.

Preparedness is going to be important and understanding of the local scenarios. In many regions, cartels are just not just criminal organizations. They influence logistics, labor, local governance. From a geopolitical and risk perspective, how should executives understand the role of cartels actually play in the ecosystem of business? And security in Mexico?

So I think that the main thing, that the main misconception is that the only way the cartel, cartels operate against you is they're going to come knock on your door or do something directly to you as the cartel itself. Whereas I think that the main problems may come from supply chain, making sure that you have the right labor force and that they will come and work for you or for your business, in your business. So the cartels are so much more complex. They are embedded, unfortunately, in the police force, in the government level. So they may not come to do something physically to you or your business, but you might not get your approvals in time, or they may let you in to drop some money in, and then the processes, the bureaucratic process might not move the way you want or the rhythm you want or need as a business person. So I think with that in mind, it's very important to make sure before you make a step into Mexico to understand, to have the relationships, to have a good basis and a good understanding as to what security means. Because security is not just your physical parameter or your physical safety as a CEO or anyone in the controlling board of your business.

I see. And you know, basically what I hear you saying is that having an expert to guide you through the process, uh, from a local standpoint of view, or a clear understanding of what you might encounter, is going to save you a lot of money and hassle, right? Finding the right guide and expert to put you in a position where you feel you're in control versus just—

Indeed, because Mexico is such a variated landscape, and you touched a little bit on it earlier, which is Mexico is not just this one country, it's 32 regions that operate differently, where the cartels have very different attributions. It's like trying to make one security, um, plan for the whole Europe. It's not going to work like that because every part of every country of Europe has different threats and different issues and different goals. So it's the same in Mexico, and consequently with the cartels. You have all these federal regions that— where the cartels operate differently with a different agenda. So that's another aspect that has to be taken into consideration when you're headed to Mexico and, uh, you know, how to plan for that.

Yeah, and I think we're seeing, um, a lot of that, especially after the following days after, uh, the cartels retaliated for the assassination of their leader. And, uh, it also seemed to fade fairly quickly. Did you have any notion what that might be the cause for, uh—

My personal assumption is that the cartels were just trying to send a message. Um, I heard many people saying, oh, they're gonna destroy the country, and my immediate reaction to that is they will certainly not, because they need that country to function and keep bringing them the money. They need Mexico to keep having the international relations they have, both politically and economically. I don't think any cartel leader would like for their country to be closed and all their business to die. So I think what they did was just sending a message, a rough message, but a message nonetheless.

Right now, the, you know, executive question for investors, right? If you were advising a Fortune 500 CEO right now who's considering multi-billion dollar investment in Mexico, we've seen that because of nearshoring. What is the one security reality they must understand before they make that decision?

And this will be tapping back to what we were talking earlier about, which is understand your landscape. And I'm even talking about geographical security. What would the cartels be interested in in your area? Why, what would make them come after you? How can you integrate your business within that landscape of security and geography? But most importantly, get your experts, get your local experts. Nobody outside the US or very outside Mexico, sorry, will be able to give you a better understanding of what's truly going on, how to truly manage things in Mexico than somebody that's there, that lives there, and they, you know, have a deeper understanding and correct view of I see.

And, you know, that kind of threads back to, you know, security incidents happen in Mexico. Obviously, we were talking in the previous podcast conversation that sometimes the local business and a lot of security professionals, sometimes they're so used to the violence that they kind of let their guards down a little bit. Whether it's cartel activity or extortion or regional instability, some companies navigate it effectively while others spiral into crisis. What separates organizations that operate successfully in Mexico from those that understand, you know, underestimate the environment?

And this brings me to a very significant pain point about Mexico that I noticed, and it's worldwide, but it's more relevant there, which is reactive security versus preventive security, reactive measures versus preventative measures. Because if you have to react in certain cases, it can be already too late. So a successful business versus that one that doesn't succeed is they don't look far ahead enough and they try to only solve things that come their way. So get your experts think preventatively and you might have a chance to succeed in Mexico.

Yeah, and you know, I think we get a lot of messages, mixed messages, right, when it comes to Mexico and, uh, in the business environment or, you know, just simply traveling to Mexico, right? I've seen a lot of commercials here in the last couple of weeks of, you know, we're fine, we're working, come to Mexico. And I think that has a lot to do with the, uh, soccer World Cup coming to, you know, North America, and they're, you know, want to make sure that people don't move away or cancel. So that's, that's an impact that is, is being managed, I guess. Uh, but international coverage of, you know, either frames Mexico either extremely dangerous or rapidly improving. From your perspective, what does the security trajectory of Mexico actually look like over the next few years?

So this circles back all the way to the beginning of our conversation, uh, meaning that Mexico has a very deep understanding of what's already going on. Yes, they may be a little relaxed. Yes, they might not be preventative enough, but they know what they're doing. I have talked to quite a few directors of security companies very well established in Mexico, and they all said Let the World Cup come because we were prepared for things like this to come. So we have our measures to make sure that people that come here will be safe. And to another degree, I'm pretty sure also the cartels want their share of money from people coming to Mexico. So I think we'll all be very safe going there if we decide to do so.

Absolutely. You know what? A friend of mine lives in Hawaii. And a few years ago, when they have one of the volcanoes, You know, basically lava destroyed a couple of towns and made it all the way to the ocean. Slow moving, but the news was in this one road. And he was saying, it's like, Tino, that's just such a small part of Hawaii that you can come and watch the lava. I mean, but you're saying there is nothing other than the focus of the media and just this one little road. And, you know, it's a terrible situation that doesn't need to be minimized, but— Sometimes the impact created by the wrong focus, the wrong lens on a single detail in the problem is critical. So advice for security leaders responsible for Mexico, right? We started a little bit in that CISO or CSO level. For those security professionals listening to this show, leaders responsible for protecting people and operations, what mindset or strategies should they adopt in Mexico as part of the portfolio?

I think they, uh, when it comes to security in Mexico, they have very deeply rooted practices which have worked so far. Um, in my latest assessment of how things are done, I think there's a minor improvement that can be done, and that is implementing intelligence in their services because The cartels are already using that. And when you're not playing on the same level, when you're not acting from the same type of knowledge, you're already losing at the game, at the war you're in. And combined with that, stepping back on the preventative measures and make sure, which comes also through the employment of intelligence, I think these two pathways combined will make anyone in the security industry successful. Perfect.

Well, uh, Ana Maria, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it. I'm sure we'll have a lot of questions and comments. Uh, as always, uh, we appreciate your, uh, giving us the time. And, uh, for, uh, anyone interested in contacting you, uh, to further the conversation or explore doing business with you for Latin America or elsewhere, how can they contact you?

They could contact me via my LinkedIn profile, which I'm sure you'll be able to tag in the description, as well as my email, which I will be offering as well for the same purpose. So thank you so much for having me. It's always a pleasure. The conversations are always very bubbly and we need definitely more time to dive deeper in them. So thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, this is just a starter. All right. And Maria, thank you so much. And for you guys watching at home, We'll see you. Stay informed, stay secure, and we'll see you in the next check-in.