COVID-19 COMES HOME TO ROOST; A GLIMPSE OF HELL

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Don't look now, but the perfect storm is forming along our border.

Just overnight, three maquiladoras in Matamoros manufacturing auto parts, computer parts, electrical components and other parts trucked to the plants to parent companies in the Midwest came to a standstill.

As happened when the first eight companies stopped production, the stoppage will affect transport companies here, who will have to lay off drivers, mechanics and other personnel. Among some of the ones closed until May 4 are VDO, Autoliv, Tridonex, Edesma and Novalink.

At Edesma, workers threatened a walkout if they were not allowed to go home to protect themselves from infection. Vidrio Decorativo Occidental today suspended operations because of the virus threat.

Las Tuesday, El Manana reported that the eight other maquilas had closed their doors due to the lack of basic materials to manufacture their components. The newest three closures today just add to the number of furloughed people in the city. Maquilas had already been threatened with strikes by the unionized workers asking for better wages.

This means that thousands of worker are idle and there is no assurance that they will have a job to return to once the forced vacation is over.

And just up head, Semana Santa is approaching, considered a national holiday in Mexico.

But the problem is that even with the COVID-19 shelter in place being implemented in Mexico, many of those unemployed maquila workers might take advantage of their free time and travel to the interior and transmit the virus to people there.

Public officials and the public in Mexico - if we believe the news reports from there - have not taken the COVID-19 contagion seriously, and people are still celebrating weddings, quinceaneras, birthdays, etc., as if nothing has happened.

And Matamoros authorities say that they will install "filters" to protect beach goers during the scheduled Festival del Mar to protect visitors from COVID-19 infection.

Now imagine.

You will have thousands of unemployed people roaming the streets of Matamoros, the maquilas jobs will be gone at least until the end of the month or beyond, so what will they do while the production chain starts up again? What will happen in Matamoros, and Brownsville, for that matter?

No sooner had these events reached the public than a Mexican equivalent of "wilding", that is, a gang of youths going on a protracted and violent rampage in a public place, in this case, wanton robbery of a Chedraui department store in Matamoros.

The state police detected calls on social media to rampage through the store and prevented the sacking of the business. Thi is just the beginning.

Commerce in Brownsville from across the river will dry up. You will have thousands of desperate families in Matamoros looking for a way, anyway, to provide for their families without income. and the crackdown on plasma donors is already under way by the Brownsville cops enforcing the shelter in place laws.

In the immediate scenario, however, this means that trucking companies who deliver the parts from the border to the Midwest also come to a standstill. Companies here who customize and prepare the parts manufactured in Matamoros for shipment will have nothing to work with.

With desperation on both sides of the border, we are but a breath away from anarchy.