Business leader shot to death after complaining about drug cartel extortion in Mexican TV interviews [Video]

The head of a Mexican business chambers’ federation in Tamaulipas state, across the border from Texas, was killed Tuesday, hours after giving television interviews complaining about drug cartel extortion in the state, officials said.

Julio Almanza was shot to death outside his offices in the city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.

“We are hostages to extortion demands, we are hostages of criminal groups,” Almanza said in one of his last interviews. “Charging extortion payments has practically become the national sport in Tamaulipas.”

Even Mexico’s largest corporations are now being hit by demands from drug cartels, and gangs are increasingly trying to control the sale, distribution and pricing of certain goods.

The problem came to a head when the Femsa corporation, which operates Oxxo, Mexico’s largest chain of convenience stores, announced late last week that it was closing all of its 191 stores and seven gas stations in another border city, Nuevo Laredo, because of …