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This raises fundamental questions. “If they are going to designate traffickers as drug traffickers, will they also include Americans who are part of these networks? Because we are not only talking about the famous drug cartels, but also trafficking networks, money laundering, smuggling of Weapons and others structures, many of which are incorporated in the United States.
According to Zavala, the narrative allows figures such as President Trump to use the concept of narcoterrorism as a tool for intimidation, threat and extortion towards the Mexican government. “Instead of describing realities, narcoterrorism is based on spectral notions, on political ghosts that are used to force Mexico to align with the interests of Washington,” he says.
An executive order to intervene militarily in Mexico
Intervening militarily in Mexican territory with selective incursions aimed at damaging posters is something that has been on the United States radar screen for some time. But analysts argue that it would be an opportunity in the foot for the Trump administration.
“By using the concept of narcoterrorism, the United States government facilitates itself to intervene militarily in Mexico. That is very complicated, because intervening in that way would seriously damage the binational relationship, which is very delicate. It is almost inconceivable (the idea of military aggression), “explains Zavala. “I think, in addition to Bravuconería, the Mexican government has generally aligned because in the end our security policy has always been subordinated and raped; even subalternized by the United States.”
This Wednesday, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, had a telephone conversation with the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. She did not provide details of the conversation, but said it was “a very cordial conversation” and discussed “migration and security problems.” Rubio has said that he would prefer that any action, any decision made of Washington has the consent, the collaboration of the Mexican government.
“The posters do not exist”
Oswaldo Zavala (Ciudad Juárez, 1975) has specialized in Mexican narrative and has an alternative vision of the narco phenomenon in Mexico. He believes that the image of the power of the posters is exaggerated and sponsored by the State. The author of The USAHe explains to Wired that the war on drug trafficking is generally based on fantastic, contradictory and often absurd concepts, which gradually form an imaginary that presents drug trafficking in alarmist way.
“The United States government has achieved with great ability to create a long list of concepts, monsters and criminal actors that not only dominate public debate in the United States, but also in Mexico. Therefore, when Americans want it , one organization or another becomes the discussion center.
Zavala argues that the narratives used by the United States government are ways to simplify a complex problem, giving common sense to the debate that would otherwise be much more complicated. “If we take into account that a large part of drug use occurs in the United States, that there are organizations within that country that facilitate traffic, money laundering and, in many cases, are or more dangerous than Mexicans, the Discussion becomes much more complex for the Mexican panorama.
“As citizens we must be very careful with the narratives that are generated from Washington,” he warns. “It is essential to learn to analyze them critically and distance us from what they tell us. This process is not easy or fast, since, unfortunately, not only the Mexican government repeats these narratives, but the media also replicate them, and sometimes Institutions and other actors push them. Corridos About fentanil, about the ‘chapitos’ and about the alleged criminal empires of the posters. It is very difficult to escape all this. “
A war that has left more than 100,000 missing people
More than 100,000 people have been missing in Mexico since 1964, when the count began. The National Registry of Missing and not counted for people for months has exceeded this figure, which is evidence of the serious situation in the country. Most of these people were registered as missing since 2006, when the administration of Felipe Calderón began, who took the army to the streets to combat the violence of organized crime.
“Many of the most serious effects of anti -drug policy that we have been suffering in Mexico for decades. More than half a million murders since militarization began with President Calderón, more than 100,000 forced disappearances. We know that all that violence is downloaded, Above all, against poor, racialized brown young people, living in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, “says Zavala, who is surprised when people are alarmed by what Trump says. “As if we were not living, for years, a wave of violence would really be in the country.”
According to the researcher, military violence is often expressed as a form of social control, as a violence management. “You will not see militarization in areas such as the Countess or the Romani, but on the banks of Mexico City, in the most impoverished areas. Violence is occurring in the peripheries, in the poorest neighborhoods, where there are not even Adequate monitoring of the media or human rights institutions, “says Zavala.
What should surprise us, says Zavala, are the very high violence rates that we are experiencing, as a context of what is already happening, not something that is yet to come. “I think we still do not completely understand that this violence has a clear class dimension. It is not generalized violence, but systematized and directed against the most vulnerable sectors of society,” he says.
The solution: demilitarize the country
The decision made by Calderón 16 years ago to entrust the Army to responsibility for public security in several areas of the country has shown us its fatal consequences. Both Enrique Peña Nieto and Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised, during their respective electoral campaigns, to return the peace, security and courtesy. However, once in power, both presented proposals to consolidate, through legislation and even constitutional reforms, the militarized public security model. The situation does not seem to change with the administration of Claudia Sheinbaum.
In this way, the recent presidents of Mexico have maintained a policy of “peace and security” based on a militarized strategy, justifying it in the alleged operational inability of police corporations to face organized crime.
“I agree with the opinion that drugs must be decriminalized, addictions treated, all that. But in my opinion, most of violence in Mexico is not necessarily linked to drug trafficking, but to the experience of militarization itself. And I think there are solid empirical data to support this idea. We know that there is a ‘before’ and a militarization ‘after’ in Mexico, “explains Zavala.” Before the deployment of the army, our homicide rates were decreasing throughout the country, and there is a direct correlation between military occupation, the presence of the armed forces and the increase in homicides and forced disappearances. “
(Tagstotranslate) Mexico