This raises fundamental questions. “If you describe drug dealers as drug terrorists, will you also include the Americans who are part of these networks? Because we not only talk about the famous drug cartels, but also about drug trade networks, money laundering, weapon smuggling and other. ”Structures, many of which are based in the United States. The definition where a cartel begins and where it ends is very different on both sides of the border. “Speaking of narcoterrorism therefore means speaking of something indefinitely and inaccurate. This term is not supported by concrete evidence, but its use is extremely political, ”argues Zavala.
According to Zavala, the narrative enables personalities such as President Trump to use the concept of drug terrorism as an instrument of intimidation, threat and blackmail towards the Mexican government. “Instead of describing reality, drug terrorism is based on ghostly ideas, on political phantoms that are used to force Mexico to join Washington’s interests,” he says.
An order of the executive for military intervention in Mexico
Military interventions on Mexican territory with targeted attacks on the damage to the cartels have been on the United States’ radar screen for some time. But analysts argue that this would be a shot in the leg for the Trump government.
“By using the concept of drug terrorism, the US government authorizes that it is militarily intervene in Mexico. This is something very complicated, because intervention in this way would seriously damage the binational relationships that are very delicate. It is almost unimaginable (the idea of it). Military aggression), ”explains Zavala. “I believe that the Mexican government was generally in line in addition to its bravery because our security policy was ultimately always subordinate and injured; It was even subalted by the United States. “
This Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. She did not give any details of the conversation, but said that it was “a very warm conversation” and they had discussed “migration and security issues”. Rubio said that he would prefer if every action and decision of Washington presents the Mexican government’s approval and cooperation.
“Cartels do not exist”
Oswaldo Zavala (Ciudad Juarez, 1975) specializes in Mexican stories and has an alternative view of the drug phenomenon in Mexico. He believes that the image of the power of the cartels is exaggerated and promoted by the state. The author of The imaginary drug wars between the USA and Mexico: state power, organized crime and political history of drug stories (1975–2012)explains WIRED that the war against drug trafficking generally builds on fantastic, contradictory and often absurd concepts that gradually form an idea that represents drug trafficking in an alarming way.
“The US government has managed to create a long list of concepts, monsters and criminal actors that dominate not only the public debate in the United States, but also in Mexico. So if the Americans want it, one or the other organization will be. ”At the center of the discussion, for example, the Guadalajara Kartell was with personalities such as Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo. In the 1990s, El Chapo was the central figure “Today the conversation about Fentanyl and above all about the Sinaloa cartel,” explains Zavala.
Zavala argues that the narratives used by the US government serve to simplify a complex problem and to give common sense to the debate, which would otherwise be much more complicated. “If we take into account that a large part of drug use takes place in the United States that there are organizations in this country that make drug trafficking easier, wash money and, in many cases, are just as dangerous or even more dangerous than the Mexican, according to the discussion. “These narratives simplify the situation and represent Mexico as the main enemy of US security. In this way, the US government can not only intervene in the media, but also politically and diplomatically. And even militarily in Mexico, ”he says.
“As a citizen, we have to be very careful with the narratives that are generated from Washington,” he warns. “It is important to learn to critically analyze them and to distance us from what is told to us. This process is neither easy nor quickly, since unfortunately not only the Mexican government repeats this narrative, but also the media. ”Sometimes institutions and other actors drive them forward. And in order to make things even more complicated, a popular culture is created that feeds these ideas: they already exist today Run About fentanyl, about the “chapitos” and about the supposed criminal empires of the cartels. It is very difficult to escape all of this. “
A war in which more than 100,000 people were missing
Since the beginning of the count in 1964, more than 100,000 people have been missing in Mexico. The national register of the disappeared and missing persons has been crossing this number for months, which is proof of the serious situation in the country. Most of these people have been missing since 2006 when the government of Felipe Calderón, who sent the army onto the street, to fight the violence of organized crime.
“We have been suffering from the most serious effects of anti-drug policy in Mexico for decades. More than half a million murders since militarization began under President Calderon, more than 100,000 kidnappings. We know that all of this violence is unloaded. “” Especially against poor, racial, brown young people who live in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, “says Zavala, who is surprised when people are through what Trump is says, alarmed. “As if we hadn’t been experiencing a really heavy wave of violence in the country for years.”
According to the researcher, military violence is often expressed as a form of social control, coping with violence. “You will not experience militarization in areas such as Condesa or Roma, but on the edge of Mexico City, in the poorest areas. Violence takes place in the outskirts, in the poorest quarters, where there is not even enough. “Monitoring by the media or human rights institutions,” says Zavala.
What should surprise us, says Zavala, are the very high violent rates that we experience, as a background for what is already happening, and not for something that is still imminent. “I still don’t quite understand that this violence has a clear class dimension. It is not a matter of general violence, but systematized violence that is directed against the weakest parts of society, ”he says.
The solution: demilitarization of the country
The decision made by Calderón 16 years ago to transfer responsibility for public security in several parts of the country, has given us the fatal consequences. Both Enrique Peña Nieto and Andrés Manuel López Obrador have sworn in their respective election campaigns to return peace, security and courtesy. But as soon as they were in power, both suggestions presented the militarized model of public security through legislation and even constitutional reforms. The situation does not seem to change with the government of Claudia Sheinbaum.
In this way, the youngest presidents of Mexico have maintained a “peace and security policy” based on a militarized strategy and justifies them with the alleged operational inability of the police authorities to combat organized crime.
“I agree to the view that drugs have to be decriminalized, added addictions and so on. In my opinion, most violence in Mexico does not necessarily related to drug trafficking, but with the experience of militarization itself. And I think that there is solid empirical data that support this idea. We know that there is a “before” and a “after” militarization in Mexico, “explains Zavala. “Before the army was deployed, our Murdraten declined across the country, and there is a direct connection between the military occupation, the presence of the armed forces and the increase in murders and disappearance.”
