Narcofearance: How has Narcoterrorism Settled in Mexico?

Abstract

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Mexican cartels’ leadership was nationalistic and entrepreneurial, focusing their efforts specifically on the profitable U.S. drug consumption market. Their goal was to subvert the Mexican state, not challenge it. Today the various Mexican cartels appear to be headless, bereft of any leadership or led by thugs who have no allegiances and have begun focusing their enterprises on the increasing national drug consumption demand. This has caused anarchy within the different cartels’ ranks and among potential smaller competitors vying for territorial control resulting in an unprecedented escalation of drug-related violence that qualifies as narcoterrorism. The Mexican state is challenged directly for control over the legitimate use of force and seems unable to rein in the uncontrolled level of violence. Why? The following analysis discusses politicoeconomic as well as psychosocial factors that explain the evolution of these violent trends in Mexico, whose society demands an end to state corruption and a firm plan to ensure citizen security.