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Levantones
LA INSEGURIDAD Y EL NARCOTRÁFICO SIGUEN SIENDO PROBLEMAS RECURRENTES EN NUESTRO PAÍS. LOS GRUPOS CRIMINALES CADA VEZ USAN MÉTODOS MÁS BRUTALES Y MÁS ALEJADOS DEL RESPETO POR LA POBLACIÓN. EL ULTIMO LIBRO DE JAVIER VALDEZ, REÚNE LOS TESTIMONIOS DE PRIMERA MANO DE AQUELLOS QUE HAN SIDO VÍCTIMAS DE LOS LEVANTONES DEL NARCO PERO TAMBIÉN DE AQUELLOS QUE LOS HAN PRESENCIADO; QUIENES HAN SIDO PARTE DE ELLOS; QUIENES, ANTE EL PÁNICO IMPENSABLE, HAN VISTO A SUS HIJOS SER ARRANCADOS DE SUS BRAZOS Y LEVANTADOS POR AGRESORES; AQUELLOS POLICÍAS Y MILITARES QUE NO PUEDEN CONTRA LOS DISPOSITIVOS ARMADOS QUE LOS GRUPOS CRIMINALES CREAN PARA, SIN MAYOR PROBLEMA, LEVANTAR A SU VÍCTIMA DE LA PUERTA DE SU CASA, SU TRABAJO, LA ESCUELA DE SUS HIJOS O SUS AUTOS.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
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July 4, 2017Me resultó impactante leer estas narraciones. Llevó varios días soñando con violencia y sucesos atroces. Se te revuelve el estomago de leer estas historias.
Me preguntó, ¿cómo viven aquellas personas que destrozan vidas a diario? Solo evadiendo la realidad con drogas y otros vicios.
Claro que escuchamos hablar de gente cruelmente asesinada, de los abusos que se comente por parte de organizaciones criminales, pero también por parte de polícias y militares en los medios de comunicación.
Pero, una cosa es escuchar la noticia e imaginar la historia, imaginar como sucedieron los hechos y otra cosa muy distinta es que te narren las propias víctimas y los familiares de las mismas, como todo sucedió.
Leer narraciones de padres, madres, esposas, hijos e hijas de gente que sigue desaparecida o aquellas a quienes el narco les arrebató la vida, en un país donde reina la impunidad. Eso es dolor.
Eso es lo verdaderamente impactante. No son aislados los casos. Son miles de desaparecidos en México, se estima que son cerca de 30,000 desaparecidos y más de 100,000 muertos en 10 años.
Lo doloroso es leer las historias y darse cuenta que las víctimas son seres humanos de carne y hueso como cualquiera de nosotros, las víctimas de esta guerra.
Pensando en gente cercana la estadística es terrible, de 5 personas ajenas a las actividades de narcotráfico que fueron víctimas por diferentes motivos, solo dos de ellas regresaron con vida. Los otros tres conocidos fueron cruel y cobardemente asesinados.
Javier Valdez se dio la tarea de narrar lo que se intenta ocultar. Las narraciones hablan por si solas. México: un país de almas desalmadas. En donde la ambición, la corrupción y el dinero han jodido a un país entero.
El legado de Javier Valdez es valiosisímo, cruelmente asesinado en el mes de Mayo (2017) por un grupo armado narcos o políticos ( los mismos) en una de las (tantas) ciudades donde reina el narcotráfico en México.
Q.E.P.D Javier Valdez
August 3, 2013
Javier Valdez is a journalist and a sociologist. He writes a regular column for the award winning Mexican Weekly magazine Rio Doce, and the essays in this book are extended versions of his weekly columns that focus on the day-to-day experiences of people living in the heart of narco-Mexico (Sinaloa State).
These are truly amazing stories of people who are the victims of narco-crime, as well as the stories of those who live on the edge of a violent narco-culture. His reports are first hand accounts of horrific experiences, but sadly most of the stories are not uncommon. This book (like his earlier book "Los Morros del Narco") is an ethnographic study of horror, and it is comparable to any of the finest ethnographic studies produced during the glory days of the Chicago School of Sociology in the 1920's and 1930's.
It is in Spanish, and it does use the street vernacular and linguistic language of northwest rural and street-urban Mexico.
These are truly amazing stories of people who are the victims of narco-crime, as well as the stories of those who live on the edge of a violent narco-culture. His reports are first hand accounts of horrific experiences, but sadly most of the stories are not uncommon. This book (like his earlier book "Los Morros del Narco") is an ethnographic study of horror, and it is comparable to any of the finest ethnographic studies produced during the glory days of the Chicago School of Sociology in the 1920's and 1930's.
It is in Spanish, and it does use the street vernacular and linguistic language of northwest rural and street-urban Mexico.
September 24, 2018
Para quien vive estas situaciones todos los días no es nada nuevo, sin embargo cuando te adentras en la espesura de estas narraciones es imposible no sentir un asco indescriptible.
La prosa es fluida y sin pretensiones, aunque por momentos noté cierta poesía en el texto, como para adornar un poco la cruel realidad de los relatos.
Lo peor de todo es que al terminar de leer descubres que el horror sigue ahí, en el día a día y lamentablemente debemos vivir con ello.
La prosa es fluida y sin pretensiones, aunque por momentos noté cierta poesía en el texto, como para adornar un poco la cruel realidad de los relatos.
Lo peor de todo es que al terminar de leer descubres que el horror sigue ahí, en el día a día y lamentablemente debemos vivir con ello.
September 5, 2021
Very crude, shows the reality that is suffered in Mexico
June 18, 2017
The Taken: True Stories of the Sinaloa Drug War is the only English-language translation I could find of award-winning journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas, who was the eighth journalist killed in Mexico in 2017 (since his murder on May 15, the count has risen to 10). He was shot in broad daylight in the street near his office in Sinaloa.
A dense and dark read, I found myself fatigued at multiple points but kept going because I felt I wanted in some small way to bear witness for Valdez as he bore witness for so many who have been tormented by the drug wars. Excerpts of these stories (taken with the Intro. by Everard Meade and summary of international response from the final chapter, Chapter 5) provide a grisly window into life and death under a government sanctioned narco-empire, where gangs and police are the same, where the big boss rules the city, and where >90% of murders are never investigated. Valdez was certainly aware what the price for his work was. An essential read for anyone who wants to try to understand Mexico today.
I also greatly appreciated Michael J Lettieri's review from Amazon:
"Javier Valdez Cárdenas was a singular journalistic voice. Unlike many observers of Mexico's drug violence, Valdez cared little for sensationalized accounts of larger-than-life drug lords, devoting his life instead to telling the stories of those who suffered because of them. His writing finds the humanity and dignity in the victims, allowing readers to understand the drug war at its most elemental. The Taken is vital reading - it is the only English-language examination of the effects of chronic violence on a society that still finds small ways to resist, told by the only journalist capable of providing the necessary nuance. Only Valdez could describe how a confused high schooler, seduced by the lure of narcoculture, does his first "job," only to be consumed by fear and end up a victim himself.
As a classroom text, The Taken is superb. It helped a classroom of sometimes disengaged college students realize that drug violence in Mexico was not some Netflix miniseries but that something that affected real people, that it was something nuanced, that it was something they actually could care about on a human level. The stories make empathy possible.
When Valdez was murdered on May 15, 2017, we lost one of the most important advocates and voices for peace and reconciliation in Mexico. For those who would carry on the work, this translation is essential. We must preserve Valdez's memory by seeking to understand the violence as he did in his writing, as something wicked and pervasive, yes, but also as something that was not monolithic, not invincible."
A dense and dark read, I found myself fatigued at multiple points but kept going because I felt I wanted in some small way to bear witness for Valdez as he bore witness for so many who have been tormented by the drug wars. Excerpts of these stories (taken with the Intro. by Everard Meade and summary of international response from the final chapter, Chapter 5) provide a grisly window into life and death under a government sanctioned narco-empire, where gangs and police are the same, where the big boss rules the city, and where >90% of murders are never investigated. Valdez was certainly aware what the price for his work was. An essential read for anyone who wants to try to understand Mexico today.
I also greatly appreciated Michael J Lettieri's review from Amazon:
"Javier Valdez Cárdenas was a singular journalistic voice. Unlike many observers of Mexico's drug violence, Valdez cared little for sensationalized accounts of larger-than-life drug lords, devoting his life instead to telling the stories of those who suffered because of them. His writing finds the humanity and dignity in the victims, allowing readers to understand the drug war at its most elemental. The Taken is vital reading - it is the only English-language examination of the effects of chronic violence on a society that still finds small ways to resist, told by the only journalist capable of providing the necessary nuance. Only Valdez could describe how a confused high schooler, seduced by the lure of narcoculture, does his first "job," only to be consumed by fear and end up a victim himself.
As a classroom text, The Taken is superb. It helped a classroom of sometimes disengaged college students realize that drug violence in Mexico was not some Netflix miniseries but that something that affected real people, that it was something nuanced, that it was something they actually could care about on a human level. The stories make empathy possible.
When Valdez was murdered on May 15, 2017, we lost one of the most important advocates and voices for peace and reconciliation in Mexico. For those who would carry on the work, this translation is essential. We must preserve Valdez's memory by seeking to understand the violence as he did in his writing, as something wicked and pervasive, yes, but also as something that was not monolithic, not invincible."
September 27, 2024
Such a brutal read but so important. This details the history of disappearances in Mexico and centers the lives of families caught in the crossfires of corruption, extortion, drug trafficking, and more. This challenges the sensationalism of cartels and drug kingpins by centering the pain, distress, and resilience of ordinary people in the face of endless violence and a complete lack of governmental intervention. Infuriating and heartbreaking, yet so powerful.
June 11, 2020
To be immersed in the account after account of an individual's experiences living in or being remotely associated with the unspoken while in narco Mexico. The author is able to bring you into the front row seat having glimpses through re-enactment beautifully weaved together.
Javier would be the few representing Mexico's journalism at their best.
Javier would be the few representing Mexico's journalism at their best.
November 9, 2024
AQUI INCIO TODO. PERIODISMO, ADMIRACION A JAVIER VALDEZ
November 25, 2021
"Desaparecer en México es morir. Morir muchas veces. Morir siempre."
Hay tantas palabras para definir este libro, como: crudo, triste, desolador, desesperanzador, tragico, deprimente, que cause coraje, impotencia y ansiedad... La lista puede continuar, sin embargo, no importa cuántas palabras utilicemos en un intento de describirlo, lo que más duele es que lo que se narra ha sido real (y lo sigue siendo).
Esta compilación de testimonios tanto de familiares/allegados de víctimas, sobrevivientes –incluso de mismos narcotraficantes– nos muestra la cruda y cruel realidad de nuestro país. No solo se trata de "levantones" o asesinatos, sino de lo que viene después, como la búsqueda de la verdad por parte de la familia (y las constantes amenazas), la negligencia y corrupción del gobierno y esa violencia que prevalece (aparentemente) más fuerte que nunca.
Podemos entender hasta cierto punto esa angustia al saber que tu familiar ha desaparecido y la desesperación cuando las investigaciones no pronsperan ni avanzan.
He de advertir que este libro no es para todos ya que hay descripciones graficas de violencia, tortura y cadáveres. No obstante, creo que todos deben darle una oportunidad porque es imperativo estar conscientes de la realidad en la que vivimos y de los (posibles) peligros que podemos enfrentar.
Hay tantas palabras para definir este libro, como: crudo, triste, desolador, desesperanzador, tragico, deprimente, que cause coraje, impotencia y ansiedad... La lista puede continuar, sin embargo, no importa cuántas palabras utilicemos en un intento de describirlo, lo que más duele es que lo que se narra ha sido real (y lo sigue siendo).
Esta compilación de testimonios tanto de familiares/allegados de víctimas, sobrevivientes –incluso de mismos narcotraficantes– nos muestra la cruda y cruel realidad de nuestro país. No solo se trata de "levantones" o asesinatos, sino de lo que viene después, como la búsqueda de la verdad por parte de la familia (y las constantes amenazas), la negligencia y corrupción del gobierno y esa violencia que prevalece (aparentemente) más fuerte que nunca.
Podemos entender hasta cierto punto esa angustia al saber que tu familiar ha desaparecido y la desesperación cuando las investigaciones no pronsperan ni avanzan.
He de advertir que este libro no es para todos ya que hay descripciones graficas de violencia, tortura y cadáveres. No obstante, creo que todos deben darle una oportunidad porque es imperativo estar conscientes de la realidad en la que vivimos y de los (posibles) peligros que podemos enfrentar.
December 26, 2022
Es contradictorio, porque es un excelente libro, narrado con una maestría por parte del autor para dar el mensaje al cual está destinado; pero al mismo tiempo, es un libro doloroso y es un golpe de realidad para los que vivimos en una burbuja y muchas veces no nos damos mucha cuenta de lo que está pasando.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews