This raises fundamental questions. “If they are going to designate traders as Narco terrorists, they will also include the Americans who are part of these networks? Because we are not only talking about the well-known drug cartels, but also human trafficking networks, money laundering, weapons smuggling and other structures, many of which are in the United States has been recorded. , but its use is politically Zavala.

According to Zavala, narrative figures such as President Trump allows to use the concept of anesthesia as an instrument of intimidation, threat and extortion to the Mexican government. “Rather than describing realities, anesthetic is based on spectral ideas, on political shines used to force Mexico to suit Washington’s interests,” he says.

an executive order to intervene militarily in Mexico

To intervene militarily in Mexican territory with selective invasions aimed at damaging the cartels is something that has been on the American radar screen for some time now. But analysts argue that it would be a shot in the foot for the Trump administration.

“By using the concept of anesthesia, the US government empowers itself to intervene militarily in Mexico. It is something very complicated, because to intervene that way will seriously damage the two -national relationship, which is very delicate. It’s almost unthinkable. [the idea of military aggression]”Zavala explains.” I believe that in addition to the bravado, the Mexican government was generally aligned, because in the end, our security policy was always subordinate and violated; even subalized by the United States. “

This Wednesday, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. She did not provide details of the conversation, but said it was “a very hearty conversation” and they discussed “migration and safety issues”. Rubio said he would prefer that any action, any decision taken from Washington, has the consent, the cooperation of the Mexican government.

“Cartelle does not exist”

Oswaldo Zavala (Ciudad Juarez, 1975) specialized in Mexican narrative, and has an alternative vision of the Narco phenomenon in Mexico. He believes the image of the power of the cartels is exaggerated and sponsored by the state. The author of The imaginary US-Mexico Drug Wars: State Force, Organized Crime and the Political History of Narconarratives (1975–2012)Explain to Wired that the war on drug trafficking is generally built on fantastic, contradictory and often absurd concepts, which gradually forms an imaginary form that offers drug trafficking in an alarmist manner.

“The US government has, with great skill, managed to create a long list of concepts, samples and criminal actors who not only dominate public debate in the United States, but also in Mexico. So, when Americans want it, become For example, some organization the center of discussion in the 1980s was the Guadalajara cartel, with figures such as Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo 1990s, the central figure was El Chapo Guzman, and later, Amado Carrillo today turns the conversation To Fentaniel and above all the Sinaloa cartel, ”Zavala explains.

Zavala argues that the narratives used by the US government are ways to simplify a complex problem, giving a common sense to the debate that would otherwise be much more complicated. “If we take into account that a large part of drug consumption occurs in the United States, that there are organizations within that country that facilitates trading, money was and, in many cases, just as dangerous than the Mexican, the discussion will Then become much more complex for the Mexican Panorama only media but also politically, diplomatic and even military in Mexico, ”he says.

“As citizens, we have to be very careful with the narratives generated from Washington,” he warns. “It is essential to learn to critically analyze them and to distance ourselves from what we are told. This process is not easy or fast, since, unfortunately, not only the Mexican government repeats these narratives, but the media Also repeat, and sometimes print settings and other actors and, to complicate things even more, a popular culture is created that feeds these ideas: today there are already corridos About Fentaniel, about the ‘chapitos’ and over the alleged criminal empires of the cartels. It is very difficult to escape all of this. ”

a war that left over 100,000 people missing

More than 100,000 people have been missing in Mexico since 1964, when the score began. The National Register of Disregard and Unriches has exceeded this figure for months, which has been proven of the serious situation in the country. Most of these people have been registered as missing since 2006, when the administration of Felipe Calderón, which took the army to the streets to combat the violence of organized crime.

“Many of the most serious consequences of the anti-drug policy we have been suffering in Mexico for decades. More than half a million murders since the militarization began with President Calderon, more than 100,000 forced disappearances. We know that all that violence is being downloaded , above all, against poor, race -bound, colored young people, who live in the most disadvantaged areas of the country, ”says Zavala, who is surprised when people are worried about what Trump says. violence in the country does not live. ”

According to the researcher, military violence is often expressed as a form of social control, as a handling of violence. “You’re not going to see militarization in areas like the Condesa or Roma, but in the margins of Mexico City, in the most impoverished areas. The violence occurs in the periphery, in the poorest neighborhoods, where there is not even sufficient. Monitoring by the media or human rights institutions, ”says Zavala.

What we should surprise, Zavala says, is the very high rates of violence we experience, as a backdrop of what is already happening, not of something that has yet to come. “I think we still do not fully understand that this violence has a clear class dimension. It is not common violence, but systematized and directed against the most vulnerable sectors of society,” he says.

The solution: demilitarization of the country

The decision Calderón made 16 years ago to entrust the military with the responsibility of public safety in various areas of the country has shown its fatal consequences. Both Enrique Peña Nieto and Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised us to return peace, safety and politeness to us during their respective election campaigns. However, when they were in power, both presented proposals to consolidate the militarized public safety model through legislation and even constitutional reforms. The situation does not appear to change with Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration.

In this way, Mexico’s recent presidents have maintained a “peace and security” policy based on a militarized strategy, which justifies it on the supposed operational inability of police corporations to confront organized crime.

“I agree with the view that drugs should be decriminalized, addicts should be treated, all this. But in my opinion, most of the violence in Mexico is not necessarily linked to drug trafficking, but to the experience of militarization itself. And I think there is solid empirical data to support this idea. We know there is a ‘before’ and a ‘to’ to ‘militarization in Mexico, ”Zavala explains. “Before the deployment of the military, our murder figures have decreased throughout the country, and there is a direct correlation between military occupation, the presence of the armed forces and the increase in murders and forced disappearances.”