Oxxo, in the event you’re not in the habit of looking up from your feet as you walk around Mexico, is the country’s ubiquitous chain of convenience stores, brightly lit temples of fast food and drink staffed by the terminally bored and easily irritated.
One has to assume, though, that their ennui dissipates with alacrity upon the entrance of armed robbers looking to relieve cash registers and pockets of their monetary bounty.
So thrill-seeking Oxxo workers in Zapopan may be excited to know that their places of employment are among the municipality’s most commonly targeted by robbers. So far this year, 575 robberies have been reported at Oxxo stores, making up 23.92 percent of total convenience store thefts.
Of course, that number makes sense, considering the chain outnumbers the competition by a mile.
Notable among the statistics associated with these robberies is the frequent appearance of repeat offenders. One man, Cesar, aka El de la Mochila Azul, has been linked to more than 150 Zapopan Oxxo robberies.
Zapopan Police Commissioner Roberto Alarcon Estrada blames the country’s new penal code for Cesar and others’ repeatedly cropping up in cases of store robberies. The system allows far too many criminals to escape justice, critics say.