Drug War Capitalism

by Dawn Paley

  In Guatemala, Luis Solano has been a constant help and encouragement. His work is an inspiration. Through earlier reporting projects in Guate I met photographer James Rodríguez, who has long since become a close friend and colleague. Thanks to Grahame Russell and Nate Einbinder, two of the coolest men I know, for waking up early and staying up late drinking Gallo alongside me in Guatemala and elsewhere over the years. Daniele Volpe was also a great help in Guatemala City. Sandra Cuffe, my partner in crime and frequent co-writer, provided comic relief, and incredible insight on Honduras and life in general. Annie Bird and Karen Spring were both great resources in Honduras. Thanks to Murray Bush, I’ll never think of Tapachula the same way again. In Colombia, Blandine Fuchs at the Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia is an outstanding resource and a dear friend. Thanks to Manuel Rozental and Vilma Almendra for the time spent and ideas shared in Cauca, in Canada, and in México. I hope I have more opportunities to work and write together with all of you over the coming years.

  Thanks to my friends and co-conspirators in Canada and the US, who never let me feel alone, even on the hardest days of writing and research for this project. In Montréal, Amy Miller, Aaron Lakoff, Andrea Rideout, and the folks at Alma House provided friendship, kitchen table talks, and a safe, welcoming space when I needed it most. Frédéric Dubois, Maya Rolbin-Ghanie, Dru Oja Jay, Arij Riahi, Stefan Christoff, and Shannon Walsh helped me talk through my ideas at various stages of this project. Malcolm Rogge provided warm companionship in Ecuador and in Ontario, and was always ready to discuss a new angle or a complicated problem. My discussions with Egla Martínez Salazar and Jamie Kneen in Ottawa were crucial in informing this project. In Peterborough, Rachelle Sauvé is a permanent inspiration. In Toronto, Justin Podur provided invaluable insight at the beginning of the writing process, as did Naomi Klein. In the Bay Area, Isabeau Doucet and David Zlutnik have been solid co-conspirators, in addition to being all-around inspiring, and the Institute for Anarchist Studies provided a small grant toward part of the research in the Honduras chapter.

  In Vancouver, occupied Coast Salish Territories, where I have spent a good part of the last decade, I am incredibly blessed to have many friends, allies and longtime supporters. First off, thanks to all the brave people who took a stand against the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. The organizing and friendships fostered in the lead-up to those protests planted in me the seeds of anarchy and rebellion, which are still growing. To my habibi Isaac Oommen, shukran for everything we have shared. I am lucky to have had many conversations with brilliant thinkers and organizers like Swathi Lakshmi, Gord Hill, Macdonald Stainsby, and Harjap Grewal. Thanks to Freda Huson, Dini Togestiy, Mel Bazil, Ambrose Williams, and all the folks at the Unist’ot’en Camp, who teach not only through words but through powerful actions. Ann and Emma Turner, Darius Kinney, Janice Westlund, and Dave Turner have fostered in me a spirit of justice and friendship since I can remember. Carel Moiseiwitsch has been a mentor and a dear friend, and has helped me become a stronger writer and a more badass woman. Sara Kendall and Margo Chapman Kendall repeatedly opened their homes and their hearts to me as I completed the manuscript. Megan H. Stewart was a crucial confidante and a wonderful host during many of my visits to Vancouver. Donald McPherson at the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition was an early supporter of the project. Dr. Mary Lynn Young of UBC Journalism has been an ongoing advocate for my work over the years, as has David Beers, who is a master storyteller. Thanks to everyone who came to the East Van tertulia; your presence, encouragement, and ideas made finishing this book possible. Extra special thanks are due to Marla Renn and Ahseea Ahmed, who contributed so generously to this project, and who I love dearly.

  This book would never, ever have been possible without the lifelong, ongoing support of my parents, Valerie and Larry Paley, and my brother, William Paley. The discipline of hard work and intense play, and the spirit of adventure and curiosity that all three of them instilled in me is what pushed me to become a writer, and to try to understand the world around me. To them, my deepest gratitude is due.

  Notes

  FOREWORD

  1 Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program, Marxist Internet Archive, accessed August 15, 2014, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/ch01.htm.

  2 Ibid.

  3 Interview with Richard Heffner on The Open Mind television program, December 7, 1975.

  4 Bertrand Russell, “Freedom in Society,” Harper’s Magazine, 1926, 33.

  CHAPTER 1: DRUG WAR CAPITALISM

  1 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “Case No. 12.416 Santo Domingo Massacre Colombia.” Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 14, https://www.cidh.oas.org/demandas/12.416ENG.pdf.

  2 Ibid., 11.

  3 Christian T. Miller, “A Colombian Town Caught in the Crossfire,” Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2002, http://articles.latimes.com/2002/mar/17/news/mn-33272/3.

  4 Ibid.

  5 InfoMil Prensa, “Aeronaves de Inteligencia en Colombia: C-337 Skymaster,” http://www.webinfomil.com/2012/05/aeronaves-de-inteligencia-en-colombia

  -c.html.

  6 Mats Berdal and David M. Malone, introduction to Greed & Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars, eds. Mats Berdal and David M. Malone (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2000), http://web.idrc.ca/openebooks/421-5/.

  7 Ibid.

  8 “Cartel,” New Oxford American Dictionary, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/cartel.

  9 Marcus Rediker and Peter Linebaugh, The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (Boston: Beacon Press, 2000), 53.

  10 D. Hernández, “Calderón’s War on Drug Cartels: A Legacy of Blood and Tragedy,” Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2012, http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/01/world/la-fg-wn-mexico-calderon-cartels-20121130.

  11 Raul Zibechi, Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements (Oakland: AK Press, 2012), 39.

  12 David Harvey, Spaces of Global Capitalism (New York: Verso, 2006), 91.

  13 David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 159.

  14 Doug Stokes, America’s Other War: Terrorizing Colombia (London: Zed Books, 2013), 121.

  15 John McCain, “Speech by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona),” June 6, 2002, http://archive.is/WNO9d#selection-273.112-273.469.

  16 Jasmin Hristov, Blood and Capital: The Paramilitarization of Colombia (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2009).

  17 Laleh Khalili, “The Location of Palestine in Global Counterinsurgencies,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 42, no. 13 (2010): 413–414.

  18 Consulate Monterrey, “Mexico: Tracking Narco-grenades,” March 3, 2009, http://cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=09MONTERREY100#para

  -3961-4.

  19 Dawn Paley, “Strategies of a New Cold War,” Toward Freedom, December 20, 2012, http://www.towardfreedom.com/31-archives/americas/2997-strategies-of-a-new-cold-war-us-marines-and-the-drug-war-in-guatemala.

  20 Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Toronto: Knopf, 2007), 248–249.

  21 Donna Chollett, “From Sugar to Blackberries: Restructuring Agro-export Production in Michoacán, Mexico,” Latin American Perspectives 36, no. 3 (May 2009): 79.

  22 Tom Barry, Zapata’s Revenge: Free Trade and the Farm Crisis in Mexico (Boston: South End Press, 1995), 43.

  23 Judith Teichman, Privatization and Political Change in Mexico (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, Digital Research Library, 2009), http://digital.

  library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=31735055592376;view=toc;c=pittpress.

  24 Juan Carlos Moreno-Bird, “La Economía Mexicana Frente a la Crisis Internacional,” Nueva Sociedad 220 (March–April 2009): 64.

  25 Petro Strategies Inc., “World’s Largest Oil and Gas Companies,” http://www.petrostrategies.org/Links/worlds_largest_oil_and_gas_companies.htm.

  26 S. McCrummen, “Mexican President Proposes Historic Change
s to State-owned Pemex Oil Monopoly,” Washington Post, August 12, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mexican-president-proposes-historic

  -changes-to-state-owned-pemex-oil-monopoly/2013/08/12/7f848d4c-0380-11e3-bfc5-406b928603b2_story.html.

  27 Carlos Slim, “5. ¿Es cierto que Carlos Salinas de Gortari le vendió Telmex a cambio de un favor?,” http://www.carlosslim.com/05.html.

  28 U.S. State Department, “08MEXICO2187, Who Are Mexico’s Wealthiest Business Leaders?,” July 16, 2008, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2008/07/08MEXICO2187.html#par21.

  29 The bone-dry border region near Tucson, Arizona is, the single deadliest area for migrants—6,029 of whom died attempting to cross the Southwest border between 1998 and 2014, according to the US Customs and Border Patrol.

  30 Elinor Comlay, “Mexico Becoming Nissan’s Export Hub for Americas: CEO,” Reuters, November 12, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/13/us-autos-mexico-nissan-idUSBRE9AC03G20131113.

  31 IDMC, “Briefing Paper by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre on Forced Displacement in Mexico Due to Drug Cartel Violence,” December 2010, http://internal-displacement.org/p. 1briefing/mexico/.

  32 William I. Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention and Hegemony (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 33.

  33 William I. Robinson, Latin America and Global Capitalism: A Critical Globalization Perspective (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 15.

  34 Molly Molloy, “Q & A with Frontera List’s Molly Molloy,” Frontera List, August 22, 2014, http://fronteralist.org/2014/08/22/q-a-with-frontera-lists-molly-molloy/.

  35 US Department of Defense, “News Transcript,” March 27, 2012, http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=5000.

  36 William Booth and Nick Miroff, “Mexico’s Drug War is at a Stalemate as Calderón’s Presidency Ends,” Washington Post, November 27, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/calderon-finishes-his-six-year-drug-war-at-stalemate/2012/11/26/82c90a94-31eb-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_story.html.

  37 Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, “Boletín de Prensa núm. 288/13,” July 30, 2013, http://www.inegi.org.mx/inegi/contenidos/espanol/prensa/Boletines/Boletin/Comunicados/Especiales/2013/julio/comunica9.pdf.

  38 Georgina Saldierna, “Van 21 mil homicidios dolosos este sexenio,” La Jornada, March 1, 2014, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2014/03/01/politica/012n2pol.

  39 SEGOB, “PROGRAMA Nacional de Derechos Humanos 2014–2018,” April 30, 2014, http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5343071&fecha

  =30/04/2014.

  40 INEGI, “Encuesta Nacional de Victimización y Percepción sobre Seguridad Pública 2013 (ENVIPE),” September 30, 2013, http://www.inegi.org.mx/inegi/contenidos/espanol/prensa/boletines/boletin/comunicados/especiales/2013/septiembre/comunica15.pdf., 21.

  41 CNDH, “Informe Especial sobre secuestro de migrantes en México,” February 2011, http://www.cndh.org.mx/sites/all/fuentes/documentos/informes/especiales/2011_secmigrantes_0.pdf, 12.

  42 Movimiento Migrante Mesoamericano, “Caravana de Madres Centroamericanas 2012,” October 9, 2012, http://www.movimientomigrante

  mesoamericano.org/caravana-de-madres-centroamericanas-2012-2/.

  43 Instituto Nacional de Estatística y Geografia, “Índice de percepción sobre la seguridad pública: Cifras durante diciembre de 2011,” January 5, 2012, http://www.inegi.org.mx/inegi/contenidos/espanol/prensa/Boletines/Boletin/Comunicados/Percepci%F3n%20sobre%20Seguridad%20P%

  FAblica/2012/enero/comunica.pdf.

  44 UNODC, “Global Study on Homicide, 2011,” 2011, http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Homicide/Globa_study_on_

  homicide_2011_web.pdf, 23.

  45 Melissa Dell, “Tracking Networks and the Mexican Drug War,” December 2012, http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/dell/files/121113draft.pdf, 2.

  46 Ibid., 3.

  47 Ioan Grillo, El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency (New York: Bloomsbury, 2011), 61.

  48 Univision, “Los cárteles se multiplicaron en la sexenio de Calderón, dice fiscal,” December 20, 2012, http://noticias.univision.com/narcotrafico/noticias/article/2012-12-19/los-carteles-se-multiplicaron-en-sexenio-de-

  calderon#axzz2FdDn53NS.

  49 The collaboration of local police forces and the army with Zetas and other cartels can take numerous forms, which will be examined later in the text. In Guatemala, the funeral of José Luis Fernández Ligorría provides an example of high-level state authorities’ recognition of Zetas: Fernández himself was the leader of the Zetas before his death, and at his funeral in January 2011, Otto Pérez Molina’s minister of government, Mauricio López Bonilla, gave the eulogy and presented Fernández’s widow with a commemorative beret from the Kaibil elite special forces.

  50 As an example, take the municipal police force of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, whose members are accused of protecting the Zetas while they pulled passengers from buses, murdered them, and buried them in mass graves. Rubén Mosso, “Detienen a 16 policías por proteger matanzas de Los Zetas en San Fernando,” Milenio, April 13, 2011, http://www.entretodos.com.mx/notacompleta.php?id=57608.

  51 Yolanda Figueroa, El Capo del Golfo: Vida y captura de Juan García Abrego (Mexico: Avelar Editores, 1996), 137. Figueroa, her husband, and their three children were murdered less than six months after her book was released.

  52 Gary Fields, “White House Czar Calls for End to ‘War on Drugs’,” Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB124225891527617397.

  53 Embassy Mexico, “Ambassador’s Private Dinner With President-elect Calderon,” September 29, 2006, https://cablegatesearch.wikileaks.org/cable.php?id=06MEXICO5607#para-4964-1.

  54 Colleen Cook, Rebecca Rush, and Clare Ribando Seelke, “Mérida Initiative: Proposed U.S. Anticrime and Counterdrug Assistance for Mexico and Central America,” Congressional Research Service, March 18, 2008, http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/103694.pdf, 1.

  55 ECLAC, “Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2011,” United Nations, http://www.eclac.cl/publicaciones/xml/7/45607/LCG2513b.pdf, 81.

  56 Shannon O’Neill, “Refocusing U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation,” Council on Foreign Relations, June 18, 2013, http://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ONeil_Testimony.pdf.

  57 William Brownfield, “Remarks at the Council of the Americas,” March 22, 2013, http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/rm/2013/207231.htm.

  58 John Feeley, “U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation: An Overview of the Mérida Initiative, 2008–Present,” May 13, 2013, http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA07/20130523/100907/HHRG-113-FA07-20130523-SD001.pdf, 2. Clare Ribando Seelke, “Mérida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: Funding and Policy Issues,” Congressional Research Service, April 19, 2010, http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/141560.pdf.

  59 Hristov, Blood and Capital, 202.

  60 Sharon Ennis, Merarys Ríos-Vargas, and Nora Albert, “U.S. Census Bureau: The Hispanic Population, 2010 Census Briefs,” May 2011, http://www.census

  .gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-04.pdf.

  61 Stop the Injunctions Coalition, “Our Oakland, Our Solutions,” in Life During Wartime: Resisting Counterinsurgency, eds. Kristian Williams, Lara Messersmith-Glavin, and William Munger (Oakland: AK Press, 2013), 150.

  62 Dawn Paley, “Interview: Dr. William I. Robinson on Power, Domination and Conflicts in Mexico,” Upside Down World, December 7, 2010, http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2811-interview-dr

  -william-i-robinson-on-power-domination-and-conflicts-in-mexico.

  63 Equipo Bourbaki, “El Costo Humano de la Guerra por la Construction del Monopolio del Narcotrafico en Mexico, 2008–2009,” February 2011, http://redporlapazyjusticia.org/directorioinfo/InformeBourbaki.pdf.

  64 Howard Campbell, Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches From the Streets of El Paso and Juárez (Austin: University of Texas Press, 20
09), 6.

  65 Dawn Paley, “Insight Crime & the Mexicanization of Cartel War Discourse,” March 11, 2013, http://dawnpaley.tumblr.com/post/45119662682/insight-crime-the-mexicanization-of-cartel-war.

  66 In 2011, two people in Veracruz were charged with terrorism for their Twitter and Facebook status updates, in which they mistakenly reported a hostage-taking at a school. Charges against them were later dropped. BBC News, “Mexico ‘Twitter terrorism’ Charges Dropped,” September 22, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15010202.

  67 Carlos Lauría and Mike O’Conner, “Silence or Death in Mexico’s Press: Cartel City,” Committee to Protect Journalists, September 8, 2010, http://cpj.org/reports/2010/09/silence-death-mexico-press-cartel-city.php.