"A new form of migration much more elitist and selective, but migration in the end, has been taking place for months in various zones in the north of the country, especially the border states," writes columnist Salvador Garcia Soto in today's edition of the Mexican daily El Universal. "The narco violence, the lack of security, and the misgovernment in these places is pushing out entire families of Mexicans who have changed their residence and their activities to various cities of the United States."
Garcia Soto reports that businessmen, politicians, and wealthy families are leaving their homes in such cities as Monterrey, Tampico, Saltillo, Jurarez, Torreon, and Reynosa and moving to the Texas cities of McAllen, Mission, San Antonio, Laredo, and El Paso, where they have sparked a real-estate boom.
Even the governor of the state of Neuvo Leon, Rodrigo Medina, has moved his wife and children to Texas, he writes. And Oscar Luebbert, the mayor of Reynosa, "is residing in an authentic bunker" in McAllen, where he attends to the work of the city.
The exodus has drawn sharp criticism from business magnate Lorenzo Zambrano. The chairman and CEO of building materials giant CEMEX wrote on Twitter: "He who leaves Monterrey is a coward. We have to fight for what we believe in. We have to retake our great city."