A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the "Mexican Drug War"

by Carmen Boullosa, Mike Wallace

The “War Against Drugs”: who started it, and why? What are its consequences in real terms, not mere statistics, for the people most affected by it?

One hundred thousand deaths later—with the vast majority of those killed innocent citizens, such as the 43 teachers college students recently killed in Guerrero—the solution to peace requires a radical rethinking of how America, and its neighbors, approach the illegal drug trade.

The origins of this cataclysm of violence go back a century: and no two writers are better suited to this investigation than Carmen Boullosa and Mike Wallace, two legendary prize-winning writers, one Mexican and the other American. Through them we learn of economic disaster, mass migration of families fleeing violence, and the chaos that has ensued as direct results of this disastrous policy promulgated by the U.S. Government. Before the attack on a supposedly rampant drug “problem,” Mexico had one of the lowest crime rates and lowest addiction rates in Latin America. Now, it may be the most crime-ridden, drug-infested country on the planet.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, True Crime, Crime, Economics, Drugs

258 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2015

About the author

Carmen Boullosa (b. September 4, 1954 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a leading Mexican poet, novelist and playwright. Her work is eclectic and difficult to categorize, but it generally focuses on the issues of feminism and gender roles within a Latin American context. Her work has been praised by a number of prominent writers, including Carlos Fuentes, Alma Guillermoprieto and Elena Poniatowska, as well as publications such as Publishers Weekly. She has won a number of awards for her works, and has taught at universities such as Georgetown University, Columbia University and New York University (NYU), as well as at universities in nearly a dozen other countries. She is currently Distinguished Lecturer at the City College of New York. She has two children -- Maria Aura and Juan Aura -- with her former partner, Alejandro Aura --and is now married to Mike Wallace, the Pulitzer Prize–winning co-author of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Guillermo Jiménez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una noche, traía prestado el coche de mis papás y conducía a regresarlo a su depa en la Colonia María Luisa. Apenas un par de cuadras antes de llegar, un taxi, que venía a exceso de velocidad, comenzó a pitar y echarme luces, así que me hice a un lado y le menté la madre por lo bajo, realmente no alcancé a ver gran cosa, salvo que había "movimiento" en la parte trasera del Tsuru que me rebasó.

Estacioné el auto y me encendí la compu, decidido ya a pasar la noche ahí, cuando apenas unos minutos después escuché una detonación, luego otra, y finalmente, otra más. Iba caminando rumbo a la sala cuya ventana da a la calle, cuando un olor profundo comenzó a colarse dentro del apartamento: pólvora. Justo cuando llegaba a la ventana se escuchó que arrancaba un auto a toda prisa y pasó frente al edificio demasiado rápido para distinguir nada más que: era un taxi Tsuru.

4:40AM Con 3 balazos en la cabeza, un hombre 25 años aprox. fue encontrado ejecutado en estac. de un restaurante, en Col María Luisa en Mty

— MAGS_SP (@MAGS_SP) October 31, 2011

En las poquísimas reuniones que se daban, más de un amigo o conocido contaba una historia de cómo una camioneta los cerró, como veías a vehículos llenos de hombres con armas largas, la plática de cómo levantaron al hijo de los papás de un vecino; el relato angustioso de cómo se llevaron a Milton, un primo de cariño y amigo de la infancia que me dio a probar mi primer cigarro.

Así que sí, leer sobre el fenómeno de la narcoviolencia en México se convirtió en una búsqueda por encontrar respuestas al radicalmente distinto mundo que sucedía a aquel en el cual crecí.

Boullosa y Wallace hacen una buena mancuerna al momento de darnos un recorrido historiográfico del ascenso de la violencia narca que permeó en todas las esferas sociales y culturales de México, y proponen una lectura histórica a como este fenómeno fue creado y fomentado por los ineptos gobiernos tanto de México como de Estados Unidos, por décadas consecutivas.

Estoy alejado de la educación básica y secundaria, pero me pregunto si es un tema que se incluye en los relacionados con la historia reciente de nuestro país.

Me gusta la aproximación de los autores al afirmar que este problema no es exclusivo de México, y que no es solo él el responsable de su ascenso, sino que involucran no solo al gobierno de Estados Unidos, sino también a algunos de sus ciudadanos.

Considero este tipo de lecturas como necesarias, más allá del morbo que algunos pudieran buscar, entender la historia de esta problemática debería llevar a formar una ciudadanía más exigente de cuentas y de datos y de resolución de conflictos, de investigación de delitos, de transparencia de gobiernos corruptos, quizá, también, de exigir con más ahínco el tratamiento del consumo legal de drogas, al menos de que se discuta y trate y entienda un poco mejor.

Me gusta como los autores van tratando de mostrar todo el poliedro de este tema, cómo van girando la figura geométrica imaginaria del narcotráfico, aventurando y leyendo e interpretando desde planos como el político, histórico, económico, social, entre otros, hasta tratar de asir las raíces profundas de este reverendo desmadre.

[Chris Steeden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starting off with the terrible events concerning the death of 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College in 2014 Carmen Boullosa and Mike Wallace take us through the Narco history in Mexico from the early 1900’s to the present with a very neat conclusion.

My gripe about the book is that it is very dry. Fact upon fact and lots of names it was hard for me to know who was who. I could end up reading pages not knowing what was going on.

I did find the various Mexican presidents take on the drug trafficking issue very interesting and how they tried and mostly failed in trying to do something about it. ‘In January 2012 the government acknowledged that at least 47,515 people had been killed in “drug war–related”’. What a stat that is.

The book gets up to the point of some US states beginning to legalize marijuana but there is still a long way to go. Plenty more illegal drugs out there to be had.

I would recommend Ioan Grillo’s book over this one. His book is referenced a few times in this.

[Marifer Lozano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente libro sobre la historia del narcotráfico en México y en Estados Unidos. Los autores logran retratar la historia y la realidad mexicana de una manera fácil de comprender. A momentos puede llegar a ser una lectura algo lenta, pero dentro de todo es una lectura altamente recomendable para aquellos que les gustan los temas de drogas, narcotráfico, corrupción, etc.

[Chris Chester · Rating 3 out of 5]

The death of 43 college students in Guerrero, Mexico, was a flashpoint of community anger about the way violence has overtaken our neighbor to the south and rotted the country's social institutions to the core. But his isn't an isolated incident: how did we get there?

It's all too easy to criticize their system for being broken, the 100,000+ deaths and endemic violence, and the deep corruption that infects the state. But Wallace and Boullosa do is walk us back to the very beginning of the "Mexican Drug War," which we come to find is hardly Mexican at all, but entirely a product of drug policy in the United States.

Corruption is inevitable when a prohibition policy makes narcotics by far the biggest business opportunity in the country, and violence is inevitable when it's criminals who are left to embrace this business opportunity. When you then fan the flames of the conflict by sending more men and more guns into the fray, a spiral of violence, often directed at innocent civilians, is the consequence.

This is a great primer for those of us who have always blithely regarded Mexico as a narco-state without searching to deeply into the roots of the problem and who have become alarmed in the last couple decades by its regression to a failed state.

It's a quick take — and gives us much more of the Mexican side of the picture — but I found it extremely informative and an excellent addition to my on-going reading list about Latin America and U.S. policy therein.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great telling if a complex problem

This book should be required reading for anyone looking to understand modern U.S.-Mexico relations, since the topic is so important to understand so many others (violence in Mexico, illegal immigration into the U.S., etc.) and the relationship between the two countries.

Written by a Mexican poet/novelist and her American historian husband, it provides a good walk through of the drug trade from before the Mexican Revolution up to just prior to the latest U.S presidential elections. During the journey, it shows the history of both countries, the shift in drug policy over time, the reasons and their unintended consequences which have led to the current situation in Mexico. I think most readers will be struck by learning of the level of brutality, not just in numbers but in the actions of all the players (which are numerous indeed).

As someone who has lived most of his life in the Juarez/El Paso border area, I especially appreciated a section in chapter 9 that covers how and why the violence got so bad in my hometown starting with the Calderón administration. In a few concise pages, it covered it not only the drug trade factors, but also the macro economic and social ones that came together to cause it. Having lived through it, I can attest to its accuracy.

[Mike Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a simple man: if a book claims and substantiates the claim that neoliberal economic policies, privatization and Bush-era political bs set the stage for the Mexican Drug War, I will like it. Felipe Calderon is a monster.

[Usama Bilal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of Mexican history through the lenses of drug regulation and US relations. Even more of a must-read given the new levels of violence in Mexico these days (late 2017)

[Jessie Tobin Tobin Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of the war on drugs with historical perspective. Does a good job of telling both the USA and Mexico version of the story. Very dry, but most history books are.

[Angelica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but dry.

[Cristian Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only thing about the book I don’t like is that it’s a little outdated now and doesn’t mention the narco-politico connection in Mexico the way it should be IMO.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting, being from the UK I don't know too much about the USA/Mexico drug trafficking dynamic, but this really filled in my knowledge gaps!

Free on audible, worth paying for.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative but very dry, lowkey paints EPN in a good light which is a crazy take

[Ron Willoughby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two things: excellent analysis of the last 100 years of drug war. Well researched. Keen understanding of so many variables. Some of the suggestions at the end seemed a bit pie in the sky. Even so, definitely a worthy read.

Secondly, after finishing this book, I can’t help but say: Don Winslow is scary good and I hope John Eldridge never reads this book.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this book ever since reading the introductory chapter that has been posted online prior to publication and now I can say – rightly so.

Boullosa and Wallace have written a solid book that does a great job at summarizing and offering explanations for the recent Mexican criminal insurgency. Informative, readable while not being melodramatic, it is the perfect book for readers that want to acquaint themselves with the ongoing conflict.

Those with a long-term interest in the topic will probably notice that large parts of the book seem to be derivative, the main inspiration being Ioan Grillo’s “classic“ El Narco (an inspiration the authors openly admit). On the other hand, this book has a definite value even for readers of this kind, since Boullosa and Wallace offer some original viewpoints and include the recent development up to the end of 2014.

[James Creechan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The strength of this book lies in the description of the economic and political context of the drug war.
The major weakness lies in the scarce description of the actual cartels and criminal organizations operating in Mexico. Basically, the book focuses on criminal organizations that provided sensationalistic coverage in American (and to some extent international press). Those cartels in Michoacán (Familia, Templarios etc) and Los Zetas grabbed headlines but the fact is that they are now “weak remnants” of organizations. The powerful and still dominant cartels (...there are 2 - Sinaloa and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación) are barely an afterthought in this book. And some of what is said about Sinaloa is simplistic and even incorrect. Read this book for the economic analysis, but not to learn about cartels and the drug trade.

[Gonzalo Corvera · Rating 2 out of 5]

No estoy seguro si recomendarlo. Fuera de lo francamente deprimente, la historia que propone de México la siento un poco sesgada; aunque hay puntos que suenan lógicos y que explican algunas cosas, hay hechos hiostóricos que francamente yo no recuerdo haber vivido así. Pero es muy interesante el planteamiento que hace de como el gobierno desde hace mas de 100 años ha sido parte del narcotráfico. La segunda parte, en donde exponen sus ideas de las virtudes de la legalización, esta poco fundamentada si la comparamos con el excelente "Chasing the Scream" de Johann Hari.
Finalmente, aunque hay una gran lista de referencias al final del libro, muchas de sus aseveraciones se sienten poco fundamentadas.

[Goya Rappozo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Como mexicanos estamos expuestos día y noche al tema de la violencia, evidentemente ocasionados por el narcotráfico y el crimen organizado.

Hemos normalizado la sangre, las desapariciones, los balazos, las alianzas del estado con los criminales. Y sin embargo, pocas veces nos cuestionamos de dónde viene todo este conflicto.

Considero que Boullosa y Wallace hacen un recorrido cronológico ideal para entender la narco historia en la que hoy México está construida. Me atrevo a mencionar que este libro debería considerarse una biblia de la historia de México, y que todos deberíamos leer y conocer.

[Daniel Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

At last, a clear and direct explanation of what is broken with this stupid war on drugs and what could be done to fix it!

The story is relevant in both sides of the border, especially Mexico, where the powers that be have committed many errors that require huge changes.

US, Portugal and Uruguay are already showing the way by decriminalizing and correctly regulating and taxing drugs. The writers do a great job of explaining the history, policies, errors and surprising successes in this ill-named "war".

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure who the intended audience for this book was, but I am not one of them. I know very little about this subject and this book helped my knowledge, but only to an extent. The authors throw literally hundreds of names, organizations, and acronyms at the reader. Unless you are already immersed in this subject, there is no way to keep the story straight. Additionally, the book reads more like an academic thesis. It had zero entertainment value to hold one's interest.
In summary, "A Narco History" is undoubtedly an important book, but it will be valuable to a very narrow audience.

[Hung-ya · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me personally, this is a very important read which not only guides me into Mexican politics from 2000 on, but also provides very detailed background on how the "Mexican drug war" was created at all from the aspects of politics from the old days, public policies, facts from years of collection on drug trade, etc. It is a brilliant collection and reflects on Mexican politics and society and it continues to offer much impact after reading.

One of the best books I have read this year in 2015.

[Kaleb King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro que nos muestra una perspectiva diferente de la mal llamada "guerra contra en narcotráfico". Nos da una visión política y social sobre el tema, más que una revisión historica del asunto.
Recomiendo el libro ampliamente para todo el interesado.

[Xandria · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a US citizen, I'd grown up hearing about the drug war. I remember when El Chapo was all over the news for having escaped prison; I remember hearing about the massacre of students / the disappearances. But everything I heard was through popular US news media which never quite dove into the actual issue at hand. Why was this so-called war on drugs failing? Why did the imprisonment rate affect people of color so much more than the main drug takers who were predominantly white in the US? And what did/does neoliberalism have to do with the failing drug war?

Your questions will be answered in Boullosa's well-researched crash-course that is A Narco History. Boullosa documents the US's involvement into the drug war and how US policy strong-armed Mexico and other Latin American countries into fighting a war on drugs instead of moving toward legalizing drugs.

Boullosa starts in the lat eighteen hundreds and goes all the way to 2016. Each chapter is a great crash course bringing the reader up to speed about all the ties with the US and Mexico and with the internal Mexican drug gangs. Instead of focusing on heavy ended descriptions on violence (unlike the introduction), Boullosa focuses on policies and internal conflicts along with citizen response to the violence.

I have a better grasp on what the "Mexican" drug war is, how it started, and how its ill named. It's a great book to begin understanding the implications and the possibilities for reconstruction, but you could go further and further in depth with this topic. Great place to begin!

[Ben Peyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty quick read but depressing. I don't know what I thought it wouldn't be. The book is best when dealing with the recent past. Most of the book deals with the history of Narcos in Mexico from the 1990s to the mid-2010s. I had a very basic understanding of the history of organized crime in Mexico. Most of it from movies and TV. The book makes clear that from 2006-12 the simmering level of narco-violence in the country erupted into boiling rage and consumed the entire country into full-blown war. It was more violent than I even thought. And, the institutions that were to protect citizens were even more corrupt than I thought. There were a couple of interesting nuggets I knew nothing about. In 2011 and 2014 there were areas in Mexico where regular citizens took to organizing and fighting back against the cartels because local police were too corrupt to do anything. In one instance, these citizens were so successful that they ran a cartel mob out of the region. Of course, the federal government at the time was concerned this would make them look bad so they partnered with the citizen militia only to force the members to later give up their weapons and their control of the region. One of the stranger facts is that there was a cartel run by a mobster who was a devote Christian and considered himself evangelical narco. He wrote his own bible and required his members to read it. He later faked his own death and lived in the countryside for several years before being killed by federal authorities.

[Cold · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to follow. At first, I assumed it was my lack of knowledge about Mexican history. But then I tried re-reading a chapter having read the whole book and still found it difficult to follow. The author lists historical events without any context or conversation with the reader.

In terms of content, he follows the history of drug production in Mexico. He is an anti-prohibitionist who argues that its all driven by US politics. There are some interesting ideas about how NAFTA flooded Mexico with cheap agricultural products, and this hurt Mexican farmers. So they turned to growing crops that are illegal in the US, cannabis and poppies etc. A criminal-state nexus grows around the system that trafficks these to the US. This framing explains a lot about how the drug war can never be won, and also the multi-level corruption in Mexican politics. This is the necessary background to understanding the 2014 Iguala mass killing.

The book picks up on a lot of truth, but also some things don't make sense. Marijuana was grown before the Mexican revolution, and it was then outlawed in a global wave of prohibitionism. The US didn't have a role in this. And then on NAFTA, the core problem isn't that NAFTA dumped cheap grain, it's that Mexican farming isn't productive enough. As a result, farmers turn to growing drug crops because they don't face competition from productive farmers.

[Linds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is both very dense and dry at times, while also incredibly interesting and thought provoking. I enjoyed learning of the various Mexican presidents and their approach to dealing with cartels and their rule of violence over the country. Learning of how often political and community leaders, who are meant to be public servants, were in bed with the cartel, was both unsurprising and disgusting when considering how many lives were lost due to the actions of these individuals. The last several chapters involving how the US and Mexico can go about making significant strides in taking on the cartels and creating policies to start changing how "the war on drugs" is addressed, were of particular interest to me. This is a book I would love to re-read in the future and do further research on.

[Christopher Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complete (up to 2014) history of this carnage-producing "war". I found the most interesting parts to be the early history of how the paranoia about marijuana by a few Justice Dept. people in the U.S. caused a shift in public attitude that overrode scientific and social studies negating the fear-mongering silliness and causing that drug and others to follow to be so deeply criminalized that this whole supply/demand cycle started and perpetuates to this day. Later in the narrative the statistics of grisly deaths and mutilations becomes numbing. There's a lot of politics and economics here serving as fertile background explaining the rise and strength of the cartels to this day.

[Alex Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pointed survey of the War On Drugs from Harry Schlessinger through the 2nd decade of the 21 C from the perspective of Mexico.

I think it's fairly safe to say that along with the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan & Iraq America has not won this war, despite the Trillions that have been spent, untold suffering, hardship & death it has caused.

Most interesting to me was the Autodefensia movement in Mexico and how very understandable this type of reaction is from the perspective of a population that has been betrayed, more or less, by the policies in the USA as well as by the incompetence, corruption and wrongheadedness of its own.

Worth a read by anyone interested in the subject.

[Arrobarsandias · Rating 2 out of 5]

Al final del libro los autores afirman que no son expertos en el tema y se nota. Quizá el libro de Ian Grillo sea mas oportuno para empezar a leer sobre este tema porque este libro no es todo lo claro que podría ser.
Como lector tienes que hacer un doble esfuerzo por acordarte de lo contado anteriormente, en las mismas fechas y discernir entre tantos nombres, ciudades, presidentes, narcos... Mientras lo lees te parece que todo esta claro y que estas integrándolo todo perfectamente a tu esquema mental, pero cuando te paras a recapitular, todo se torna confuso y no sabes ni who, what, where, when and how

[Kevin McAvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mexico seems to be waking up and deciding it's future instead of cow-towing to the USA's drug war strategy. One of the best comments was "Why should we (Mexicans) be killing each other to solve America's massive addiction problem when the USA does nothing to stop/reduce the flow of firearms entering Mexico illegally?
Legalizing ALL narcotics and taxing them is a viable solution. After 60 years of jailing growers, sellers and users the war has FAILED it's mission.
A quick read with profiles of leading politicians and cartels.
Legalization is the path for Mexico to improve it's economy.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh my goodness… this was like reading an encyclopedia. It was a fact dump - paragraph after paragraph of dates, stats and names. It could not have been more dry and boring.

There is a lot of info in this book regarding the history of drug laws, drug use, drug trafficking, politics (as it relates to drugs), etc. over the last hundred years. The authors do a good job of connecting the Drug problem to both Mexico and the U.S. However, I can’t say that I would recommend this book to anyone unless you need a resource for a school paper on this subject. It is absolutely tedious to read.