The clandestine sale of alcohol can result on 20 thousand pesos a day (1,050 USD), for each one of these illegal points of sale (some of them even have home delivery service for an extra cost).
In 2017, Yucatán was the state with the most cases of alcohol poisoning in the entire country, in eight months a total of 5,940 incidents were registered in the state, of which 5,130 involved men and 801 women, according to the epidemiological bulletin issued by the Ministry of Health. One of the factors that contirubutes with this situation, is the clandestine sale of beer, wines and liquors that represent revenues of up to 20 thousand pesos in a single day.
According to data from the World Health Organization, about one quarter of the total consumption of alcoholic beverages are not registered. Unregistered alcohol is a broad category that ranges from home brewed beer, to the production of illegal alcohol marketed through contraband practices.
Although we do not have an exact figure of how many clandestine businesses operate in Mérida and the rest of the state, the location of these establishments are usually public domain; because in most popular neighborhoods there is always someone who is willing to make an extra buck by selling cold beer and other alcoholic beverages after 10 o’clock at night.
The Criminal Code of Yucatan in its article 245 establishes that a one to six-year sentence and fines ranging from 3,500 to 14,000 pesos, will be imposed on anyone who unlawfully sells or distributes alcoholic beverages.
As dictated by a UADY survey, Merida is one of the places with the highest alcohol intake, starting with 60.0% of men aged 17-65 and 43.1% of women of the same age range, making a combined total of 51.3% of the total population of the “Ciudad Blanca“.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom with information from:
