 It was also disclosed in a November 24 article in "The New York Times" that officials who had attended a 2011 Bangladesh meeting to discuss factory safety in the garment industry said that the Walmart official there had played the lead role in blocking an effort to have global retailers pay more for apparel to help Bangladesh factories improve their electrical and fire safety.In 2012, "The New York Times" reported that Walmart had been made aware eight years earlier that executives of Walmart México, its subsidiary in that country, had paid millions of dollars in bribes to local officials to expedite permits for construction and operation of its many stores in that country.The company had opened many stores in Mexico in the late 1990s and early 2000s, attempting to widely establish itself before competitors could.