The criminal cartels cashing in on the World Cup – podcast

Football fans are celebrating the tournament coming to Guadalajara. But with a brutal crime syndicate holding sway there, what are the risks for fans – and the government?

Excitement is mounting in Mexico as the World Cup opens in Mexico City, then heads to the city of Guadalajara.

Mexican journalist Leon Krauze is a fan. He was there the last time the World Cup came to Mexico and will be watching again. The city of Guadalajara has a mythical footballing past: “Pele’s Brazil played there in 1970, then Zico and Socrates played there in 1986. There is a real football memory there, a love affair between Guadalajara and football in general, and I expect it to be a wonderful party.”

But, he says, it won’t be straightforward. Guadalajara also happens to be the capital of a state, Jalisco, which has become the centre of one of the most notorious criminal outfits in Mexican history. There will be a huge security presence during the tournament – not least because of how the US president, Donald Trump, has reacted to the drugs trade in Venezuela, kidnapping the country’s prime minister.

“You have a government in Washington that is really just waiting for the right moment and the right excuse to go into Mexico and take unilateral military action,” Krauze tells Annie Kelly . While it’s unlikely football fans will face danger, if they do, the president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is taking no chances.