{"id":497851,"date":"2026-02-25T05:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T05:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/497851\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T05:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T05:03:08","slug":"youre-always-worried-montreal-man-among-many-with-family-living-in-mexico-as-cartel-violence-erupts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/497851\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You’re always worried’: Montreal man among many with family living in Mexico as cartel violence erupts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The owners, staff, and clients at Tacos Frida all share a common bond \u2013 they\u2019ve got family in Mexico, and they\u2019ve been watching the cartel violence unfold from afar, helplessly worrying about the safety of their loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to talk to them every day, you know, my mother is, my mother is there now, my father is there. I think you always have the feeling of relief when you know they are safe, And you\u2019re always worried when you know they need to do something outside of their place,\u201d said Enrique Chan, the owner of Tacos Frida, whose parents are currently living in Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"\"Enrique Chan (left) with his uncle (centre) and a member of his staff (right) at his restaurant \u2018Tacos Frida\u2019 located on Notre-Dame Street in Montreal. (Corinne Boyer, CityNews)<\/p>\n

Raised in the mountainous state of Oaxaca in a small town called Salina Cruz, Chan says he grew up aware of the violence around him but still felt safe \u2014 a sense he says has vanished as criminal organizations have moved into the region over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 18, 19-years-old, I remember going to nightclubs and feeling safer. I think right now, just the question of or the decision of going to a nightclub, you\u2019re very aware now that it\u2019s something that can happen,\u201d Chan explained.<\/p>\n

Now, as a resident of Canada and business owner for the past 12 years, Chan says he\u2019s not surprised by the escalation from the cartel, as he\u2019s noticed a gradual change in his home country over the years \u2014 that doesn\u2019t feel like the home he knew growing up.<\/p>\n

Adding that he\u2019s worried for his family, who are paying the price as they\u2019re witness to burning cars and proliferating violence in local businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t feel safe, you know, they, they, we have, I have friends over there that have taken the decision of closing their businesses,\u201d Chan began to explain. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, I have a friend who has a restaurant, a pizza place, and he just took the decision to close, you know, because of this, they don\u2019t feel safe anymore and the staff don\u2019t want to go work too because they don\u2019t want to go outside of their places,\u201d he added, emphasizing that it\u2019s the reality of everyone he knows in Mexico right now.<\/p>\n

Which includes his parents, who he says only leave their home to buy necessities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A young Enrique Chan on the beach with his family in Mexico, before organized crime groups took over many regions of the country, where Chan says he still felt safe. (Courtesy: Enrique Chan)<\/p>\n

Chan says he\u2019s wrestling with the guilt of being safe here in Canada, but says he\u2019s doing his best to help his parents from a distance, who are still safe and doing well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I send money to my father, for example. I try to avoid as much as possible, let\u2019s say, a large amount, and I divide the amount in like, like less amounts or something like that. You need to go to the bank around, I don\u2019t know, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. when there\u2019s like more people,\u201d he explains the precautions he and his family must take as other criminals have begun taking advantage of the chaos and committing crimes themselves.<\/p>\n

But Chan says that while he understands the need to address the erupting violence in Mexico, he still hopes others can see his country for what it truly is \u2014 a country with beautiful things to see and experience as well as and great food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owners, staff, and clients at Tacos Frida all share a common bond \u2013 they\u2019ve got family in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-497851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}