Alex Kershaw – international and regional security blog

Mexico, a partner to Canada via NAFTA and one of the three countries that make up North America has suffered a long history of violent uprising and conflict. Narco culture in Mexico has existed for decades and has created huge sums of money with cartel leaders such as Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman worth roughly 1 billion dollars[1]. In 2006 president Felipe Calderon deployed the army to fight the cartels, and with it an explosion of violence emerged that buy 2012 has led to at least 130 000 murdered Mexicans and 27 000 people registered as missing[2]. In the period between 2007 and 2012 the homicide rate in Mexico was 56 per day. Many observers have argued that this rapid increase in violence is a result of militarization of the drug issue[3]In this blog I aim to argue that violence is more than simply a conflict between good and bad, but that for many Mexicans cartels actually provide opportunity and care for their neighborhood and that the violence is not black and white.

The drug trade and cartel system works on different levels. On one level many average Mexicans in the borderland states such as Chihuahua and Sonora engage in the drugs trade in a more passive way, such as laundering money and smuggling thus allowing cartels to profit. On a more violent level, cartel foot soldiers compete over trading routes and territory whilst also fighting the police, army and vigilante groups in order to keep plying their trade.

Narco culture, and the role of the cartels plays an important role for many in the rural north of Mexico in states such as Chihuahua and Baja, ‘for the rural poor in Mexico’s north, Narco trafficking offers one of the few paths to upward mobility and is a powerful source of cultural meanings and local prestige.’[4]  Examples of how this culture is pertinent in Mexico and particularly relevant in the north of Mexico the emergence of shrines to the narcotrafficant saint, Jesus Malverde, as well as the vast array of corridos (folk songs) that celebrate the drug culture. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIPBdDkYRYg)

Within the Mexico borderlands the cartels appeal ‘economically to people’, through the production of revenue for 200 000 thousand farmers as well as generating jobs in transportation, security, banking and communication with smuggling being one way for many people to enter the drug trade.[5] The leaders of the cartels separate themselves from the smugglers and thus remove the potential for being directly caught trafficking drugs, whilst these people are essentially working for the cartels because it pays better than not.

Cities such as Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana earning a reputation based around their high murder rates as cartels compete for control over the entry points of drugs to the USA. Some of the most notorious cartels include Los Zetas and the Sinaloa federation[6], these cartels fight over control of trading routes and more recently they have been fighting the army. The army on the other hand has been seen by many observers as similarly bad as the cartels with many instances of army atrocities appearing

What we see in Mexico is a rapid escalation since 2006 of death and destruction as resulting from conflict among cartels themselves as well as conflict with the army. As a result we have what can be considered a civil war, with non-state actors challenging the states legitimate power. Furthermore, this is more than just about control of trafficking, the cartels provide for many poor Mexicans opportunities to improve themselves economically, socially and to feel as if they are part of something.

There is a diverse and large set of ideas and answers on how to deal with cartels, including potentially; the stimulation of the north of Mexico’s economy so that alternate options of life style are available for many who see cartels as their way to get a good life. Secondly, the limiting of the flow of guns and weapons and stricter controls on the American side should be undertaken in order to limit supply’s. Thirdly, the altering of drug laws in the United States that would cut of the power of the cartels. These ideas are just a collection. The war though should be seen as important across the whole of North America as Mexico is a major trading power with both America and Canada and much of the violence is fuelled by the competition over access to American and Canadian underground markets.

Overall, the violence in this civil war like many civil wars is not solely about one entity vs another. There is a deeper level to it, with many locals feeling they have no choice but to join the rebel force, or that they have to engage with it because it is the dominant power. Furthermore the culture of the Narco trafficker has a strong hold on northern states of Mexico and winning the war is more than just defeating and arresting cartel members it also involves reining in the culture of rebellion and addressing deep structural issues in society that allow for violence to occur. This is a very brief description of some of the issues, but i have tried to represent some of the issues that are present in civil war using mexico as a case study.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_Joaquin-Guzman-Loera_FS0Y.html

[2] http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/the-mexican-undead-toward-a-new-history-of-the-%E2%80%9Cdrug-war%E2%80%9D-killing-fields

[3] when i wear my alligator boots: narco- culture in the us mexico borderlands

[4] when i wear my alligator boots: narco- culture in the us mexico borderlands

[5] when i wear my alligator boots: narco- culture in the us mexico borderlands

[6] https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-current-state-of-mexicos-many-drug-cartels