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Narcos Culture In Mexico

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Narcos Culture in Mexico

This report will detail what Mexican Drug culture is and how it came to be commonly practiced across the borderlands of Mexico.
1. Mexican Drug Trade Drug trafficking in Mexico has been a political and social issue over the past 30 or so years. Narcotics such as cocaine, heroin, methanphetamines, marijuana, as well as firearms are all being moved across the border of Mexico into the United States. In response to the illegal activity, both Mexican and American governments have started a war on drugs. The war on drugs is considered a “killing machine” by the International Socialist Review (ISR). The ISR provides statistics that, since 2009 and up to 2013, there had been almost 70,000 confirmed deaths that are related …show more content…

In a short three part documentary by VICE, Shane Smith and a camera crew took up interest in Narco Cinema and made their way down to Mexico in order to be on set, and possibly star in a film. While in Mexico, Smith had talked to two actors/directors about their past productions. One actor says that he has been in over 300, 35mm camera movies, and over 1000 movies, if you include straight to video releases. Jorge Reynoso is another actor/director that has starred and directed several hundred movies over the years. Both actors told Smith that these movies are based off of what goes on in the news and old stories of past drug dealers. Reynoso even mentioned that he has worked with some of the narcos, to help portray their stories and adventures. Working in this field of cinema is dangerous as several directors and producers have been murdered due to failed portrayals of …show more content…

Corridos are popular ballads or narratives and, in this case re-tell the lives and stories of narcos (website). According to BBC UK, corridos have been around since the Mexican revolution, and in the past 30 years, corridos have become more focused on the lives of real drug dealers (cite). BBC interviewed a former guitarist and corridos writer and quoted,"The first thing a drug runner would do after a successful run was to hire someone to write a corrido about it."(cite). Corridos writers are usually under pressure to create an accurate and glorifying depiction of the trafficking stories. Many writers do not place a cheap price on writing a corridos either. Prices range from 7,000 to 15,000 dollars a song. In an article by The Guardian, they quoted someone in saying that narco corridos are “...all the young people want to buy,”(cite). Several corridos writers, such as El Komander, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, and BuKnas De Culiacan all produce music that has over 6 million mexican American listeners (cite). Narco corridos are an increasingly popular staple of music, especially near the border states between Mexico and the United

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