Dueñas, Gabriela Polit (2013) Narrating Narcos: Culiacán and Medellín, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), xiii + 224 pp. $27.95 pbk. Historically, Culiacán, Mexico, and Medellín, Colombia, have played essential roles in narcotic trafficking within Latin America; during the past two decades, both witnessed unforgettable violence, fear and trauma. At the same time, narcotic literature has emerged as a symbolic label of Latin American literature, which provides an alternative perspective of narcotic trafficking. How can we interpret the impact which narcotic trafficking has had in Latin American literature? What is the gap between the reality and the myths about narcotic trafficking? What are the differences and similarities between the narcotic literature of Latin America and the stereotypes in other areas of the world? The answers to these critical questions could provide us with greater in-depth knowledge regarding narcotic trafficking in Latin America. Based on context analysis of the local storytellers (i.e. writers and artists) in Culiacán and Medellín, Narrating Narcos, by Gabriela Polit Dueñas, an associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin, contextualises the complicated narratives and representations in narcotic literature, and explores the negative impacts of narcotic trafficking on literature in both places. Coming from a critical perspective, Dueñas conducted a great many field interviews with local storytellers, and analysed their work, situation and personal experiences in their hometown to create ‘a discourse of memory’ (p. 8). This book has an Introduction and nine chapters. In the Introduction, Dueñas explains the reasons why we should address the situations immediately facing the local storytellers of narcotic literature. The following chapter analyses the historical similarities and differences between Culiacán and Medellín, both of which significantly shaped the dynamics of narcotic trafficking. In Chapters 3–5, Dueñas examines Culiacán and Medellín's narcotic literature, explaining how the local writers and artists responded to the violence and death surrounding them. The following pages (Chapters 6–9) stress narcotic literature's impact on various aspects of ordinary civilians' lives in both places. In the case of narcotic literature, as Dueñas argues, narcotic trafficking is represented there by four factors. First, cyclical violence was accompanied by unsolved political conflicts; as Dueñas concludes, in both Culiacán and Medellín the conflicting parties preferred to use violence to reach agreements, and many local elites and authorities maintained ‘a hypocritical position’ toward narcotic trafficking (p. 39), described as a ‘deplorable way of doing politics’ (p. 33). It is therefore not surprising that some in the local elite and middle class even ‘took an active role in the expansion of the illegal business’ (p. 135). As a result, the end of violence always meant a grey area in terms of power, in which narco traffickers, local elites and authorities could get access to untold profits. Second, there is a normalisation of violence; in other words, local people tend to reproduce violence directly or indirectly. For example, when disputes between the authorities and the narco traffickers or when conflicts between narco traffickers reached a level of cyclical violence in Culiacán and Medellín, murders conducted by sicarios (hitmen), hired assassins and paramilitary members fed a normalisation of violence. It is worth noting that the storytellers whom Dueñas interviewed ‘have lost a friend or a relative to the narcos’ violence' (p. 176). Interestingly, in contrast to Culiacán, insecurity in Medellín seems to have been more serious, partly because guerrillas are still active in the rural areas nearby. Third, we have what we might call the manhood of violence: narcotic literature in Culiacán and Medellín leaves little room for the feminine, while masculinity is prioritised: ‘for [men] honor and business are the determining features of life and death’ (p. 96) while, for instance, most women in the narcotic literature are ‘young, poor, uneducated’ (p.175). At the same time, male storytellers are over-represented in narcotic literature, with Dueñas finding no female writers in either place. Fourth, there is a privatisation of security: in response to narco traffickers, criminal groups and guerrillas, the Colombian and Mexican authorities have had to hire private security contractors – an irony in itself, since private security contractors are also employed by the narco traffickers and paramilitary forces themselves. To sum up, Narrating Narcos reveals lesser-known aspects of narcotic trafficking in Culiacán and Medellín, and thus adds greatly to our understanding of both narcotic trafficking and literature in Latin America. This well-researched book will appeal to those interested in both areas and subjects, as well as to any scholars and policy-makers wishing to develop solutions for the challenges posed by narcotic trafficking. In addition, it will undoubtedly have a place on bookshelves of academic libraries around the world.
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Jan 1, 2017
Eric Covey 
Open Access