Truck hijackings threaten mezcal supplies from Mexico — The Hill
Shipments of Mexican mezcal from the southern state of Oaxaca to the U.S. border face risks due to truck hijackings on routes through central Mexico. This was stated in an opinion column by Mark Vickers, vice president of logistics company Reliance Partners, published in The Hill.
According to data cited by the author, Mexico produced 7.7 million bottles of mezcal in 2025. About 90% of the drink is made in Oaxaca, mainly at small family distilleries. The global mezcal market is forecast to exceed $1 billion in the early 2030s.
Cargo attacks
Vickers says that routes from Oaxaca through the country’s central states are high-risk areas for freight transport. In September 2024, near the city of Zempoala on the Mexico City–Tuxpan highway, a truck carrying a shipment of Monte Alban mezcal was seized during an armed robbery. In July 2025, a cargo shipment of 9,000 bottles of premium agave beverages, valued at $1.3 million, was stolen in Guanajuato state.
The author also mentions the hijacking in Hidalgo state of a truck carrying 64 tonnes of alcoholic beverages. According to him, groups specializing in cargo theft target food and beverages that can easily be resold on informal markets.
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High-risk states
Vickers links the greatest risks for mezcal shipments heading north from Oaxaca to the states of Puebla, Mexico, Michoacán, Jalisco and Guanajuato. According to the Mexico Cargo Truck Hijacking Data Portal, created by the author’s company Reliance Partners, more than 79% of truck hijackings in the first half of 2026 were recorded in the states of Mexico and Puebla.
In the column, Vickers also claims that local officials and residents of some cities in Puebla cooperate with criminal groups by concealing stolen goods and vehicles and obstructing investigations. He notes that countering such crimes may require examining allegations of possible ties between politicians from the ruling Morena party and criminal groups.
According to estimates cited in the column, cargo robberies in Mexico result in losses of nearly $1 million worth of goods every day, while about 50 trucks are hijacked. In June, the Mexican Association of Transport Organizations held a large-scale protest over the problem of highway robberies.
