Collusion, Co-Optation, or Evasion: The Politics of Drug Trafficking Violence in Central America

Why do drug traffickers sometimes decide to use violence, but other times demonstrate restraint? Building on recent work on the politics of drug violence, this article explores how Central American drug trafficking organizations’ strategies impact their use of violence. I argue that three inter-related political factors—corruption, electoral competition, and the politicization of the security apparatus—collectively determine the type of relationship between traffickers and the state that will emerge. That relationship, in turn, determines the primary strategy used by traffickers in that country. Drawing on over two years of comparative ethnographic fieldwork in key transshipment points along the Caribbean coast of Central America, I show how co-optation strategies in Honduras have resulted in high levels of violence, evasion strategies in Costa Rica have produced moderate levels of violence, and collusion strategies in Nicaragua have generated the lowest levels of drug-related violence.

Women, Drugs, and Violence in Sinaloa

As the United States approaches the fiftieth anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s war on drugs and Mexico is going through the second decade of its war on drugs, the costs and ever-escalating violence are difficult to ignore. Despite the arrests, extraditions, and successful prosecutions of leaders of drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), the trillion dollars that have been spent in the United States and Mexico have done little to undermine the drug demand in the United States or protect Mexican citizens from increasing violence. With former Mexican president Felipe Calderon’s declaration of his own drug war, women have borne the increasing brunt of that violence. Certain women benefit from the lucrative drug trade due to their families’ involvement. Throughout the 20th century, women developed DTOs, but women have always had to fear violence from male competitors and law enforcement. Yet the majority of women who experience the drug trade experience it as users and victims. DTOs and their collaborators among the politicians and the police have acted with impunity. While legitimate actors such as police and politicians claim their support for security measures to protect women and children, these same actors have provided little empathy and support for victims. Women are both combatants in the drug trade and its collateral damage. Their experience with impunity combined with a lack of empathy for the countless victims on both sides of the border has led to a growing sense of hopeless along with growing resistance. Keyword: drug-trafficking

Drug-Trafficking in Colombia: The New Civil War Against Democracy and Peacebuilding

Drug-trafficking in Colombia has been a widely researched phenomenon, especially now, as the country undergoes a transition process with its older guerrilla. Now more than ever it is fundamental to examine how drug-trafficking organizations violent activities affect the consolidation of peace. This article considers different approaches to study violence derived from drug-trafficking, in order to advance towards the objectives of transitional justice. For that matter, this work is based on the idea that drug-trafficking directly generates and reproduces violence which is fueled by the structural violence present in the Colombian context. My thesis is that this phenomenon deters non-repetition guarantees and weakens democracy, which is why there will be three main arguments presented that will revolve around the lack of consensus and the implications of considering drug wars as civil wars, how decisions related to the conceptual apprehension limit the competence of international humanitarian law, and the need for holistic strategies capable of facing drug-trafficking’s political and violent power. Later, alternatives will be explored around the possibilities that each argument offers, as well as which aspects could contribute to a more appropriate approach to combat drug-trafficking. Lastly, I will defend why implementing bottom-up oriented actions can advance towards transitional justice’s intermediate and final objectives, as it is the only alternative that escapes fatalist, utopian or interventionist scenarios.

Climate Change, Drug Traffickers and La Sierra Tarahumara

The purpose of this article is to uncover the ways in which climate change will impact indigenous people in contested areas as is the case of the Tarahumara indigenous community in Northern Mexico. The case study takes place on a border that John Sullivan conceptualizes as a “hyperborder” due to the complexity and high level of both licit and illicit trade. Sullivan explains how this border region has been heavily contested as criminals exploit weak governance. After 9/11 the increase of security at the border led drug trafficking organizations to diversify into internal drug distribution which required control over micro-territories. As the drug war extended cartel’s became interested in control over rural areas and specifically those inhabited by indigenous as they are ideal for the cultivation of drugs and serve as strategic corridors for trafficking illegal commodities. The high levels of competition around this “hyperborder” creates a dangerous situation as both criminal groups and the government battle to control it and capture its economic incentives. This case study seeks to unravel how climate change exacerbates competition over land and resources in hyperborder contexts and expose how criminal organizations affect contested areas that are present in several regions throughout Latin America.

Militarization of the State in Mexico: Perspectives from the Administrations of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) and Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018)

This article points out the concept of militarized security policies –i.e. the direct involvement of the military in homeland security tasks and the armed confrontation of the cartels- in contemporary Mexico. In this context, the administrations of ex-Presidents Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) and Enrique Peña Νieto (2012-2018) are being evaluated based on a number of criteria: the repercussions of their policies in terms of the rise of a war economy, a further weakness of the rule of law and the victimization of the civil population. The concept of «gray areas» controlled by the Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations is also highlighted as a new threat undermining the sovereignty of the Mexican state.

Legal challenges posed by the war on drugs and the fight against organized crime in Colombia

This article aims to highlight the evolution of crime in Colombia and how it is a drawback to the current understanding of the applicability of international humanitarian law. The peace agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-FARC, the government and the emerging armed actors are a challenge to Colombian law and legal institutions. Accordingly, the article concluded that the use of force by the Colombian government against drug trafficking organizations, or so-called Criminal Gangs-BACRIM, does not seem to be the legal way to combat them since these organizations do not necessarily participate in hostilities, which means that the government has to follow a specific procedure.

Architectures, spaces, and territories of illicit drug trafficking in Colombia and Mexico

This research applies an interdisciplinary approach to the bidirectional relationship between illicit drug trafficking activities (specifically, cocaine and opioid trafficking in Colombia and Mexico) and the architectures, spaces, and territories in which they are located. Certain spaces that determine or are determined by the actions of drug trafficking organizations are described, analyzed, and classified based on various methodologies and the use of academic, official, and press information. In addition, case studies are reconstructed using architectural and geographic representation mechanisms to exemplify and illustrate the main arguments. The paper examines the three stages of activity that constitute the illegal drug economy: production (involving the placement of crop fields and laboratories), distribution (which entails exploitation of mobility infrastructure), and cross-cutting activities in relation to drug trafficking support spaces. The research provides an articulated interpretation of the various drug trafficking activities from a spatial perspective, the characterization of spaces that are important to criminal organizations and to the performance of their activities, and insights into the spatial thinking strategies and tactics associated with drug trafficking.

Living in Fear: The Dynamics of Extortion in Mexico’s Drug War

Why do drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) sometimes prey on the communities in which they operate but sometimes provide assistance to these communities? What explains their strategies of extortion and co-optation toward civil society? Using new survey data from Mexico, including list experiments to elicit responses about potentially illegal behavior, this article measures the prevalence of extortion and assistance among DTOs. In support of our theory, these data show that territorial contestation among rival organizations produces more extortion and, in contrast, DTOs provide more assistance when they have monopoly control over a turf. The article uncovers other factors that also shape DTOs’ strategies toward the population, including the degree of collaboration with the state, leadership stability and DTO organization, and the value and logistics of the local criminal enterprise.