"empresa montada"

Question

I am responding to guided reading questions for the book Enrique's Journey for a college Spanish class on immigration. One of the questions reads:

En la frontera hay una “empresa montada” por los mexicanos. ¿Quiénes son los que trabajan para esta “empresa”?

This seems to me to be an idiom that my Colombian professor is familiar with, but I cannot find any usage of this idiom online. I think the question is referring to illicit, under-the-table businesses involved in smuggling, but am not sure.

Any ideas on what an "empresa montada" is?

Thanks

Answer 1

It means "an assembled company"

At the border there is a "company mounted" by the Mexicans. Who are those working for this "company"? - Is the whole sentence

Mounted could mean many things, but I'd probably say established or formed maybe.

Hope this helps!

Thanks, that does help. Because my professor put it in quotes, I felt it may be idiomatic and have more meaning packed into it, but I may be over-analyzing. - davehrtng, Oct 18, 2011