Narco-Propaganda in the Mexican Drug War
Organized crime is a serious threat to the state and civil society (though boundaries have been blurred between cartels and police/military)
Anthropology of crime deconstructs criminalizing discourses of the state but we also need to deconstrust discourses generated by organized crime groups (who have relative autonomy from the state).
Mexican organized groups, or “cartels”, produce a quasi-political discourse- a form of narco propaganda. Narco propaganda is not a fully formed political ideology but is an important part of public discourse in Mexico (though data is mysterious and ambiguous). The mysteriousness of narco-propaganda gives it even more power. Narco-propaganda is a discourse directed at
What’s more these cartels’ will also use the kidnaped women and girls for their own personal use. Nevertheless, the spread of human trafficking in Mexico has declined, yet the biggest problem has moved into the Mexican mountains, where remote areas have little or no authority at all. These areas are where the cartel usually pays off the authorities. But, in the case
to test their fate, another quickly emerging option was to join the underground drug trafficking market. The changing climate in the drug trafficking world did not go without having any effect on the corridos, of course.
This paper seeks to analyze the history of the narcocorrido in Mexico, their growth in popularity, and explore the reach that the ballads may have on the recruitment of individuals into drug trafficking and transnational criminal organizations in the regions. Additionally, this paper seeks to discover whether narcocorridos offer any source of intelligence for law enforcement officers and if so, how the officers can use the information to disrupt criminal the
The asymmetrical theory by Naim says that the differences between the government and that of transnational crime creates asymmetry (Naim,2005). Different government agencies are organized in a hierarchical relationship that functions consistently from the top to the bottom (Naim,2005). Governments must often follow legal processes that take up time and cost money. These governments are forced to follow budget constraints, as well as legal and political reservation (Naim,2005). These governments must operate within the control of their constitution. In comparison, these transnational crime groups operate in less harsh structures, and are able to have more flexibility in their decision-making, as well as have unlimited funds available to them. The government’s
Recognized as one of the most fearless and violent cartels in all of Mexico, Los Zetas was brought forth by a need for personal security in the Gulf Cartel. This former hit man/security style operation, active since 1997, has since grown into its own ruthless and violent organization becoming the second most powerful cartel and easily the most feared in all of Mexico. Heavily trained and armed, members of Los Zetas are set apart from other cartels because of the level of brutality they are willing to administer to those who cross them, though they had initially hoped that by being more intimidating they would have to fight less. It is their command of the drug market, their lack of fear in using violent tactics, and the
Since then the cartel violence have grown stronger and led to an estimated 40,000 deaths and several more people missing. (Hernandez 1) These mass murders are a cause of the government trying to intervene with the cartels operations. Some of the most notorious cartels in Mexico are, Los Zetas, El Cartel de Sinaloa, El Cartel del Golfo and La Familia Michoacána. However, ever since President Calderon’s war on drug cartels there have been many new smaller cartels created due to the cause of leaders being captured or killed. The fight for power and leadership between the cartel members have made several streets of Mexico a complete war zone full of gruesome murders and raining blood. The leader of El Cartel de Sinaloa, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is one of the most known and famous drug lord of Mexico. He is in the ranks of Pablo Escobar and John Gotti. According to Forbes Magazine El Chapo Guzman has an estimated net worth of one billion dollars in 2009 and estimated to grow over the next couple of year.(Dolia, Forbes 1) All the different cartels control the drug trade from different regions of Mexico, for example, El Cartel Del Golfo controls the region nearest The Gulf of
“Organized crime had coopted practically all policing and spaces for the administration of justice” States Maldonado Aranda in Stories of Drugs in rural Mexico. The impact on the community is addiction rates are rising and rapes as well. AA groups have been taken over by the Cartel to help support themselves by recruitment for gunmen, also financially. (Maldonado Aranda, 2014) Young women are dragged by their own peers, then raped, again withthe silent violence they don’t have the agency to speak up about it. Who has stepped up to help is Dr. Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde, the founder of Autodefensas. Autodefensas is a militia in Mexico who fights the Knights of Templar Cartel in Michoacan.(Manzo, 2015) Dr. Valverde wanted to arm the citizens in small cities in Michoacan against the Cartels, I couldn't agree more. To find the perfect solution to helping the people, it’s needed to have field work completed then applied anthropology. I believe arming the citizens will give them more protection in day to day life. Arming the people can give them agency to start a civil war against the corrupt government controlled by the Cartel. I also believe the US government should get involved and have the freedom to expedite the Cartel leaders and gunmen to the states.I don’t think removing immigrants from their homes to the states will be effective. Removing the Cartels will let the people of
Organized crime is found in the United States of America today and the law enforcement agencies are trying to find a way to curb its existence. Even though there are illegal businesses associated with organized crime, they are mixed in with legal businesses to portray a legal front. It also can be called a social institution because it is led by a boss and follows a chain of command much like a pyramid. Empirical and speculative theories have been developed through the years in order for the law enforcement agencies to better understand organized crime and how to deal with it. This paper will examine a social institution as it applies to
The Cartels have major influence over many small towns and cities as they make sure their businesses compete with the rest of the illegal drug market. The word Cartel means a formal organization of producers that agree to coordinate prices and production. In order for their organizations to remain established, some cartels in Mexico even have the power to bribe the government so that they look the other way. This is a form of Clientelism, which is an informal aspect of policymaking where a powerful patron offers resources such as land, contacts, protection or jobs in return for the support and services of lower-status and less powerful clients. This obviously leads to corruption as well as the cartel being basically untouchable in some cases. The amount of violence that stirs from this phenomena is staggering and many people die from it every year in
When we think in terms of how the Latin American Narco groups can affect us here in the United States we only have to look as far as any neighborhood where the products they sell are smuggled into and distributed. The groups have for many years been fighting to gain control and power over the different regions of Mexico which is a principal player in the road a product takes to get to the United States. Once in a not so distant past Mexico was a more peaceful place where the cartels knew what their limits were and stayed under the firmer hand of the Mexican government that was in power. From December 1, 2006, through the first half of 2011, some 45,000 men, women, and children lost their lives at the hands of a dozen drug trafficking syndicates
During the mid-2000’s former President of Mexico Felipe Calderon announced his war on the cartels and led to a crackdown against these organizations, along with assistance with
The government has made some gains, but at a heavy price. A total of 34,612 people have died in drug-related killings in Mexico in the first four years (Siddique). Most of these killing are between cartel rivals fighting for the control of territories. There are five cartels operating in Mexico: the Sinaloa, the Gulf, Juarez, Tijuana, the Zetas. The major cartels are the Gulf, Sinaloa and Juarez (Cook 21). Many of these cartels have joined together forming powerful alliances known as the “Federation” (Cook 17). The cartels work together, but they remain independent organizations.
Informative Speech (Type –Topical) Luis De La Cruz (2/10/15) Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the three major reasons why drug cartels are dangerous. Central Idea: The three major reasons why drug cartels are dangerous are their violent exploits, wealth, and power.
Considered the “new criminology”, the cultural and anarchic criminological theory explains how globalization has led to cultural homogeneity. It is a distinct speculative, procedural, and interventionist approach to the study of crime that places criminality and its control directly in the context of culture; that is, it observes crime and the agencies and institutions of crime control as cultural products or as creative constructs. So, they must be read in terms of the meanings they carry. The focus of the field is extensive, including situated and symbolic significance; fabricated social identity; subcultural study; space, place, and cultural geography; the continuing transformations and fluctuations associated with hypercapitalism; variations of power, resistance, and state control; existentialism and theories of risk, “edgework,” and personified practice. In all this, cultural criminology attempts to familiarize criminology to contemporary social and cultural changes and thus to imagine a “postmodern” or “late modern” theory of crime and control. In this regard, cultural criminology is involved in how individuals attempt to resolve certain internal spiritual and emotional conflicts that are themselves generated by the paradoxes and particularities of modern-day life. Put otherwise, cultural criminology seeks to combine “a phenomenology of modern crime with a sociocultural analysis of late modern culture” (Hayward 2004, p. 9, cited under Markets, Consumption, and Crime).
In recent years, Mexico has been over the global media due to the corruption, drug trafficking, violence, and extortion. Corruption, prejudice, and dishonesty have smeared every piece of our social life. Mexico has reached to the most dangerous, this not news but It is assumed that most government officials, judges, and police officers are on the take, either from each other, the public, or drug cartels. Money and power had ruled men and it has come to a point where if a common man needs any kind of help from the government part, you have to end up taking the dishonest route. In every place, bureaucratic and politicians influence with power and money in such a manner that even the talented and most efficient people in the respective would