Ohhhh that looks good but gotta wait some more before we can buy alcohol.

Given the crisis in the region, businessmen in Guatemala report that smuggling of Mexican products has increased, while in Panama, beer producers attribute the rise in illegal trade in alcoholic beverages to the dry law.

With the spread of Covid-19, governments in Central America have decreed mandatory quarantines and have also restricted the movement of consumers at certain hours.

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Arguing that the aim is to reduce crime and avoid crowding, in Panama the authorities have prohibited the consumption, sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages until the end of the State of Emergency.

In a letter, the Panamanian Association of Artisan Brewers (ACAP) asked President Laurentino Cortizo to reconsider the dry law, as there is no scientific evidence that the measure is helping to reduce violence or mitigate the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

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Alexandra Icaza Manfredo, president of the ACAP, told Prensa.com that “… it has been proven throughout history that ‘the ban is an inevitable stimulant for the dangerous black market, which ends up making the remedy worse than the disease. It falls into the home production of adulterated products that are really harmful to health.” See “Artisan brewers ask to reconsider ‘dry law’, because it stimulates the black market of liquor”

In Guatemala, the business sector reports that smuggling of groceries and cleaning products from Mexico has grown, a rise that is largely explained by the depreciation of the Mexican currency.

Enrique Lacs, executive director of the Guatemalan Chamber of Food and Beverages (CGAB), told Prensalibre.com that “… The reports are that there was little commercial activity in products in general but the smuggling of basic grains had an increase in mid-March, and in food it has increased by 20%, while in personal hygiene and cleaning products it grew by about 40%.” See “Coronavirus: Entrepreneurs Report Increased Smuggling of Groceries and Cleaning Products.”