A panic alert flashed across Alberto Herrera’s computer screen. Men claiming to be with the notorious Gulf Cartel had stopped a convoy transporting chemicals through a lawless region of northeastern Mexico. They seized two drivers from an escort truck and demanded the valuable cargo in exchange for their release.
Giant flat-screen monitors blinked with the GPS locations of dozens of vehicles carrying cargo coveted by criminals. The phone chatter and chirping two-way radios sounded like a police dispatch center, but this was the emergency response room of International Private Security, a Mexico-based company that helps international clients such as PepsiCo, Audi and BP do business in regions plagued by organized crime.
