The Drug Trade In Mexico And Implications For U S Mexican Relations

This text explains the punitive trend in Mexican anti-drug policies as a political imperative, an out-growth of the perceived need both to counter the growth of the illegal drug market and to prevent US police and judicial authorities from acting as a surrogate justice system in Mexico.

The backdrop of a deteriorating security situation in Mexico and change in administration in the United States demands a closer examination of potential priorities and policy options to guide future U.S.-Mexico relations. To help inform debate, this study examined a set of policy options for the United States (strategic partnership, status quo, and retrenchment), along with potential policy priorities that hold promise for Mexico's security.

Introduction -- Michoacán's changing landscape -- Origins and evolution of La Familia Michoacana -- Importance of Lázaro Cárdenas -- Cucaracha effect -- Leadership and organization -- La Tuta -- Ideology -- Indoctrination -- Narco-banners -- Mass communication -- Narcocorridos -- Brutality -- Resources -- Drug revenues -- Extortion -- Kidnapping -- Businesses -- Weapons -- Conflict between La Familia and Los Zetas -- Dual sovereignty -- La Familia and the United States -- Conclusion : steps to curb La Familia's ability to export drugs to the United States.

In some Latin American countries, traffickers equipped with vast resources have corrupted individuals in every aspect of public life, compromising the integrity of entire national institutions - the political system and the judiciary, the military, the police, and banking and financial systems. Moreover, Latin America, like Europe and the USA, has a drug consumption problem. Yet, drug control in Latin America is beset with contradictions. For some Latin Americans, illicit drug production in the form of coca cultivation is a traditional way of life, and has often been an economic bulwark against destitution. Attempts to control the drug trade, while absorbing vast resources, have been largely ineffectual and have had dramatic and unintended consequences. This book analyses the profound consequences that the illicit drug trade has for millions of Latin Americans, and what they imply for domestic policy and for international cooperation. Latin America and the Multinational Drug Trade is essential reading for students of Latin America, politics, international relations, security studies, foreign policy, economic development, criminology and law, and for anyone interested in the politics and economics of the global illicit drug trade.