Coparmex leader calls Durango permit delays ‘government extortion’
Original reporting: El Sol de Durango
What happened
Coparmex Durango president Francisco Israel Esparza Martell says delays in licenses, permits and government procedures force businesses to rely on personal contacts. He linked the delays to wider concerns about economic development and security.
Reporting and context
Delays in processing licenses, permits and other government procedures in Durango are forcing some citizens and business owners to rely on personal contacts to move their paperwork forward, according to El Sol de Durango. Francisco Israel Esparza Martell, president of Coparmex Durango, described the situation as “government extortion” in an interview with the newspaper.
Esparza Martell said the problem extends from municipal offices to courts and economic-development agencies, leaving businesses waiting longer than expected for administrative decisions. He argued that timely processing is both an obligation of public authorities and a right of residents and companies. “Without friends or compadres, we do not move as quickly as we would like,” he said, explaining why Coparmex uses the term extortion for the pressure to seek informal help.
The Coparmex president also linked the delays to what he characterized as broader shortcomings in Durango’s economic development and security conditions. El Sol de Durango reported that he considers those factors relevant to companies weighing investment in the state. The comments are Esparza Martell’s assessment of government performance, not an independently established finding of criminal extortion.