Mexico Has No Clue What to Do About Vigilante Militias
This article originally appeared at InSight Crime. The presence of armed civilian self-defense groups across Mexico will only cause “anarchy,” according to the country’s interior minister. His recent comments underscore a lack of coherent public policy on key security issues, as well as the precarious situation faced by citizens exposed to... Read more
Mexico’s Sky-High Murder Rate Rises Again
This article originally appeared at InSight Crime. A new report on high-impact crimes in Mexico underscores that violence and insecurity continue to be grave problems, raising further questions about the country’s lack of effective strategies to combat growing violence. The report from Mexico’s National Citizens Observatory, the 2016 Incidences of High Impact Crimes in Mexico, is an annual... Read more
Marines Take Control of Mexico’s Ports to Fight Out-of-Control Crime
This article originally appeared at InSight Crime. Mexico’s Marines will regain control of the country’s 103 ports on June 17, after a hiatus of 41 years. The move is a worrying sign that ports are out of control, but militarization has yet to become a panacea for any of... Read more
Mexico’s ‘Kingpin Strategy’ Took Out 107 of 122 Drug Lords in Five Years
This article originally appeared at InSight Crime. Recent boasting by government officials in Mexico about the country’s success in capturing criminal bosses has reopened a longstanding debate about the strategic goals of Mexico’s organized crime policies. The administration of Pres. Enrique Peña Nieto recently disclosed that during his five... Read more
Some Genius Wants to Build Trump’s Border Wall With Nuclear Waste
April 4, 2017 was the last day for contractors to submit proposals for Pres. Donald Trump’s now infamous border wall. The Department of Homeland Security expected it would receive upward of 400 proposals. These plans, some of which were shared exclusively with the San Diego Union Tribune, ranged from... Read more
Moral Ambiguity and the Mexican Drug War
Can evil deeds be made good by good intention? Sam Quinones’s book Dreamland weaves together several threads of the story of American opiate addiction and forces the reader to confront that question. When Purdue Pharma began heavily marketing OxyContin as a non-addictive solution to chronic pain in the 1990s,... Read more
Vulnerable Mexican Troops Lacked Body Armor
The marines are the best-equipped — and widely considered the most reliable — force within the Mexican military. As cartel violence metastasized, the marines emerged as the go-to force for taking down drug lords with daring helicopter raids. The marines also benefited from a perception that they’re less corruptible.... Read more
Mexico’s Murder Rate Falls–But the Drug War Is Far From Over
Mexico’s homicide rate is dropping, according to a new report (.pdf) published by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography. That’s good news, and it’s a sign that the drug war is slowing down after years of bloodshed. The bad news is that the homicide rate is still far... Read more

Robert Beckhusen

Managing Editor