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They Tried to Cut The Roof with an Ax
http://www.sdreader.com/php/cityshow.php?id=C112404B
By Ernie Grimm
November 24, 2004
Colombia was the world's foremost vehicle-armoring country until about ten years ago when Mexico rose to prominence in the field. That's how Luis Cano
Salazar, owner of a Mexico City?based armoring outfit called Total Shield, tells it. "When we started this business ten years ago," he explains,
"there were five companies doing this in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. Now there are 90 plants in the same area. And the lack of security
continues to increase."
Though Mexico has its warring drug cartels, it wasn't narcotraficantes who fueled Mexico's rise to number one in vehicle armoring. It was the twin
crimes of armed robbery and kidnapping that began to skyrocket in Mexico City about a decade ago.
The kidnapping phenomenon in Mexico City has been documented in news stories and in movies such as Man on Fire. Lloyds of London and other carriers do
a brisk business in Mexico selling kidnapping insurance. Less known, but much more common, is the rash of street-side armed robberies plaguing the
capital city of Mexico. "There are more than 100 armed robberies reported a day in Mexico City," explains Cano Salazar.
The usual method, he explains, is to spot an expensive car stopped at a light or stuck in Mexico City's legendary traffic. "Then they walk up to the
car and they have a pistol, generally a 9-millimeter or a .45, either inside a jacket or inside a folded newspaper. When they get to the car, they
pull out the pistol, point it at the driver, and demand money. This kind of armed robbery in Mexico City is a bigger worry than kidnapping."
Cano Salazar, an engineer, owned a business that sold the high-strength ballistic steel used in the armoring process when the kidnapping/armed robbery
culture began to reach epidemic proportions in the distrito federal of Mexico about a decade ago. Seeing an opportunity, he morphed his business into
an armoring company, opening a plant inside of Mexico City that he directs and one just outside of the capital under the direction of his son, Luis
Cano Ledezma.
A bright-eyed man in his mid-50s, Cano Salazar sits on a leather couch in Total Shield's Tijuana office, which is run by his nephew, Carlos Guerrero,
who sits behind a desk in a corner of the office. Next to Cano Salazar sits his son Cano Ledezma. The two of them have just driven the 3000 kilometers
north from Mexico City -- in an armored Suburban -- to check on their plant in Colonia Buena Vista, about four miles east of the San Ysidro crossing,
south of the river. The Cano family opened this office two years ago. They marketed the idea and put together a list of customers until about five
months ago, when they began armoring vehicles for wealthy tijuanenses. The deafening noise of metal being ground, welded, and hammered comes in
through windows on the office wall that look down on the workshop below, where a dozen craftsmen are busy armoring four vehicles. They're all heavy,
V-8? powered trucks: three SUVs and one pickup. "You can put armor on any vehicle," Cano Salazar says, "but you shouldn't. We look for cars which have
disc brakes on all four wheels, strong suspension systems, and big engines because we put a lot of weight on the car. For a Suburban in level-three
armoring, for example, the minimum we put on is about 300 kilos [about 660 pounds], if we use polyethylene. But if we do everything in steel, we put
1200 kilos [about 2650 pounds] on it."
"Level three" is a reference to the thickness of armor plating that Total Shield welds onto the vehicles, as well as the thickness of the bulletproof
glass. "Level three," Luis Cano Ledezma explains, "is un octavo, an eighth of an inch, thick. It will turn away any kind of handgun round, even the
.44 magnum or a 9-millimeter Uzi. Level four is for defense against a rifle. It's a quarter-inch thick."
"Then we have level four- plus," his father continues, "and level five, which are for defense against military weapons. In Mexico, level five is used
by the police and politicians, all the industrials, big company executives, and the wealthy families. They all request level five.
"This year," Cano Salazar continues, "because of the war, we're exporting a lot of level-five armored vehicles to Iraq. First, we sent the ones that
we already had. Now, we import units into Mexico from the United States, armor them, and send them to Iraq for use by contractors and media who are
doing projects there. We've done work for CNN, Fox, CBS, and NBC. Two of our cars have been attacked in Iraq, and the occupants weren't hurt."
Total Shield also offers levels six and seven armoring, though they're not available commercially. "The narco police use them. They can stop
armor-piercing bullets. Only 1 percent of our business is level six and seven."
The Canos estimate that 70 percent of Total Shield's business in Mexico City is level-three armoring. "It's the most popular there," Cano Ledezma
explains, "because the biggest fear is the street robberies, which are always done with a handgun."
"But in Tijuana," Cano Salazar explains, "kidnapping is the bigger fear. Some of our customers have already had attempts made to kidnap them, and
they're afraid. They want to prevent it from happening again. And with kidnapping, you're often talking about the AK-47 and other military rifles."
"That's why," Guerrero adds, "we sell more level four, four-plus, and five than level three in Tijuana. Seventy percent of our sales here are level
four and up."
Only the upper class and the uppermost of the upper-middle class can afford to armor their cars. Asked what it costs, Cano Ledezma answers, "It
depends. There are a lot of different combinations. There's all steel, which is the cheapest. Then, there's steel and high-density polyethylene. The
same Suburban, level three, can go anywhere from $28,000 to $40,000, depending on the combination you decide on. Then there are extras you can add on
top of that."
Cano Salazar continues, "Intercoms, to talk with the person outside of the car without opening the car, are one option. Another is a loudspeaker to
make loud sirens or noises to scare away the robber or kidnapper. Then there are pepper-gas sprayers. And we offer run-flats, which are polymer-lined
tires that can go 80 kilometers at 80 kilometers per hour after being punctured."
"Windows that you can roll up and down are another option," Cano Ledezma adds. "And there are systems that drop oil and nails on the road if someone
is following you. There are GPS, oxygen, and communication systems. There's even a system out there, though we don't offer it, which has a
flamethrower you can use to burn the robber who comes to the window."
"But the most popular right now," Cano Salazar says, "is the pepper-gas system. That's about $1500."
The Canos decline to reveal the names of any of their customers, though they say the list includes well-known singers, actors, and politicians.
Drug traffickers? Guerrero answers, "We could be doing business with those people, but there's no way we could know. All the customer is required to
present is identification, a valid address, and their RFC [Registro Federal de Causantes, equivalent to U.S. Social Security number]."
Asked whether their products have passed real-world tests, Cano Salazar brings up the two cars in Iraq that repelled attacks, though he admits he
hasn't seen them to see how well they performed. "Also," he adds, "there was a case in Mexico City with a very important person who had a level-three
armored vehicle. He was driving one day when two vehicles blocked him in and forced him to stop. They threatened him immediately with a 9-millimeter
handgun. He didn't open the car so they shot six rounds; four in the windshield and two in the side window. The victim called the police on his cell
phone, and they arrived just as the secuestadores -- the kidnappers -- tried to cut the roof with an ax, which they couldn't do. When the police got
there, the kidnappers left their vehicles and ran. The man in the car, who was 80 years old, wasn't hurt. But he said the impact of the bullets on the
glass was deafening."
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Nikon
Nomad
Posts: 143
Registered: 12-11-2003
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This is a helluva interesting article, thanks for posting.
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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Damn
Flame throwers on the side of the bamboo hauler
That's some amazing stuff there!!
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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can you get Convertibles?
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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The squarecircle
Nomad
Posts: 173
Registered: 11-28-2004
Location: El Cajon
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Mood: 'Baja Feeling'
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Nice ride!! Can I get one with real 4 wheel drive? Just what one needs for the old military "Pole Line Road".
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BajaNews
Super Moderator
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Registered: 12-11-2005
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Vehicles armored all over
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060625-9...
Insecurities, rash of kidnappings turn Tijuana business into growth industry
By Anna Cearley
June 25, 2006
TIJUANA ? The waiting room of Tijuana's longest-running car-armoring business showcases a series of multipane glass sheets that have been shot at with
assault rifles.
The glass has been distorted, and cracks emanate in a flower pattern from the point of impact. But the still-intact pieces ? composed of layers of
thick, reinforced glass ? are a strong sell to potential customers who have the $50,000 or more required to armor their car.
In the three years since Carlos Guerrero's Total Shield-Blindado Seguro factory opened, business has grown substantially, mostly through word of
mouth, among an elite border clientele fearful of abductions.
?About 20 percent of people who come here have been victims themselves,? Guerrero said. ?They tell me about what happened to them, and I start to feel
like a psychologist. . . . They feel insecure and they come here looking for security.?
Security comes in the form of 900 to 1,300 pounds of glass and steel plates and a range of other accessories his company offers, such as a
pepper-spray system to delay attackers and a nail-throwing mechanism to puncture tires.
Barometer of insecurity
The demand for this kind of protection is symptomatic of the problems faced by border communities in Mexico where kidnappings seem to take place on a
weekly basis though many cases aren't reported to authorities.
Some of these abductions are motivated by purely monetary gain, and others are related to drug-trafficking groups vying for power or settling scores.
Guerrero said he can't discriminate because his clients don't share such details. He doesn't ask probing questions, he said, because his business is
built on security and confidentiality.
?One doesn't ask what they do for a living as long as they can pay for the car,? he said.
He won't say who some of his better-known clients are. In general terms, Guerrero said he has done work for wealthy businessmen and their families,
factory owners, police administrators and government officials. They include U.S. and Mexican citizens.
His business is, in a sense, a barometer of the city's insecurity. The factory armors about 90 cars a year now, and his work force has grown from nine
to 28.
The day after Baja California's public security director Manuel D?az Lerma escaped an attempt on his life in April that included hundreds of shots and
a grenade lobbed at his armored convoy, Guerrero said business inquiries increased by about 30 percent.
Expanding across border
Guerrero has noted another trend: More wealthy Tijuana residents are moving to San Diego for safety. He said he is planning to open an Otay Mesa
showroom in upcoming months.
In Mexico, his factory has drawn clients from across northwestern Mexico. For years, these residents had to look far away to find a car-armoring
factory, to places such as Texas or the Mexican state of Monterrey, Guerrero said.
Total Shield-Blindado Seguro is a family business that started in Mexico City. Before opening the Tijuana plant, Guerrero, who runs stores in Tijuana
that provide car alarms and other home security products, sent referrals to his family's plant in Mexico's interior.
The factory in Tijuana initially was geared toward maintaining already-armored cars, and that provided about 60 percent of his business. Over time, he
started to focus more on installing armor in new cars. That is now the bulk of the factory's business.
Guerrero said the Tijuana factory has become specialized in armoring cars that can withstand attack from assault rifles.
In Mexico City, he said, most of the business comes from protecting cars from robbers who use smaller-caliber guns to break windows and grab purses.
Cars there are more typically armored with what is called Level Three glass in Mexico. It is 21 millimeters thick and can withstand attacks from
firearms as powerful as a .357-caliber Magnum pistol, Guerrero said.
In Tijuana and other border cities where crime is different, his company recommends at least a Level Four glass, which can resist an attack from an
AK-47, he said.
Level Five glass, which is 40 millimeters thick, resists all types of assault rifles, including firearms more powerful than an AK-47, such as AR-15s,
Guerrero said.
The level scale is based on Mexico's armored industry standards and isn't consistent with other countries' standards, Guerrero said.
Sustained gunfire eventually will puncture even the most armored car, he said, but the higher level glass provides more time for people to escape to
safety.
Word of mouth
The car-armoring industry in Mexico is growing in collaboration with car dealerships and with the growth of credit and loan programs in Mexico for
people without the cash on hand to armor their car, Guerrero said.
Alma Cabanillas, sales manager at Tijuana's Agencia Sema Automotriz, said the company has been putting clients in touch with Guerrero for about a year
But the auto dealership is taking a low-key approach to what can be considered a sensitive matter.
?We are adapting to the market,? Cabanillas, said. ?If the client comes in and asks for this, then we provide them with the information, but we aren't
promoting this with a massive campaign.?
The agency allows Guerrero to display his armored cars, she said, which often draws questions.
Representatives with the Tijuana Chamber of Commerce and other car industry groups weren't familiar with any other car-armoring factory in Tijuana.
Guerrero said another company tried to get started last year, but it didn't last long. The car-armoring industry relies heavily on word of mouth, he
said, in particular when an armored car saves someone's life.
?So much of this is built on recommendations since this is a community where all the business people know each other,? he said, though he also has set
up an English-Spanish Web site: .
Guerrero typically sets up appointments with potential clients at his office to preserve their anonymity. Walk-ins are discouraged, and the factory,
which is in an inconspicuous neighborhood near the bus station, is set up with a security system.
Inside, workers scurry about, checking recent shipments of plated glass to make sure they aren't dented and cutting away at pieces of cars to replace
the interior with steel and polyethylene, a tough plastic reinforcement. Most of the parts are imported. Their work is punctuated with grinding
machinery noises and flying sparks.
Guerrero considers his workers artisans. So much of what makes a car so secure, he said, is the touch of the delicate human hand.
?Armoring a car requires craftsmanship,? he said. ?This is not a job in which a machine puts everything in place. It's a very artistic and laborious
process.?
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