Drug Cartels and Gangs in Mexico and Central America: a View Through the Lens of Counterinsurgency - Mexican Cartels, COIN Doctrine, Colombia's Insurgency, Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs)

Drug Cartels and Gangs in Mexico and Central America: a View Through the Lens of Counterinsurgency - Mexican Cartels, COIN Doctrine, Colombia's Insurgency, Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs)

Author: U. S. Military

Publisher:

Published: 2017-04-21

Total Pages: 85

ISBN-13: 9781521119709

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For decades, the United States, and its partner Latin American nations, have fought to stop the flow of illicit drugs from South America to the streets of North America, yet the drugs continue to feed the addiction of the 5.8 million cocaine users in the United States today. The Unites States has confronted the problem at all levels-- primarily demand reduction, source eradication, and interdiction. While addressing demand and supply are critical to ending the international drug trade, the transit zone countries of Mexico and Central America are caught in a crossfire of widespread violence, corruption, and weakened state security perpetuated by this multi-billion dollar drug industry. The situation in the region has regressed beyond criminal activity to a drug-fueled state of siege--a criminal insurgency, which has directly threatened the lawfulness and security of transit zone countries. This paper examines the drug war in Central America and Mexico, highlighting its similarities to other insurgencies, and offers ideas on how to apply counterinsurgency doctrine to influence the effort to deny secure transshipment points to drug cartels. In doing so, this paper highlights both the intellectual and physical linkages between the commonly accepted military history of insurgencies and the history of the fight against drug trafficking organizations. To that end the United States, Mexico, and Central America need to challenge drug trafficking organizations and gangs through a regional counterinsurgency strategy that denies impunity for drug cartels, and enables Central American and Mexican governments to reestablish the legitimacy of their governing and legal institutions and regain control over all of their territory for the long term.CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION * CHAPTER 2 - BRIEF HISTORY OF CONFLICT AND DRUG TRAFFICKING: THE ROAD TO TODAY'S DILEMMA * Generations of Conflict and Drug Trafficking: a Training Ground for Criminals * Squeezing the Balloon: Central America and Mexico Become DTO's Preferred Route * CHAPTER 3 - DRUG CARTELS, DRUG GANGS, AND INSURGENCIES * Defining Criminal Insurgency * Three Phases of Insurgency and the DTO Connection * Linking Drug Gangs and Insurgency * Mexican Drug Cartels: The Criminal-Insurgency Leadership * Lessons from Colombia's Insurgency * CHAPTER 4 - DEFEATING THE DTOS: A UNIFIED COIN APPROACH * Aligning Drug Control Strategy with COIN Doctrine * The Merida Initiative: Unprecedented Cooperation in Need of a Full Commitment * CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS * Central America and Mexico's History Provides Key Roots of Today's Dilemma * DTO and Gang Links to Insurgency Provide a New Lens to View the Problem * Colombia's Insurgency Offers Applicable Lessons for Central America and Mexico * Drug Control Strategy and COIN Doctrine Need to be Leveraged * BIBLIOGRAPHY


Book Synopsis Drug Cartels and Gangs in Mexico and Central America: a View Through the Lens of Counterinsurgency - Mexican Cartels, COIN Doctrine, Colombia's Insurgency, Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) by : U. S. Military

Download or read book Drug Cartels and Gangs in Mexico and Central America: a View Through the Lens of Counterinsurgency - Mexican Cartels, COIN Doctrine, Colombia's Insurgency, Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For decades, the United States, and its partner Latin American nations, have fought to stop the flow of illicit drugs from South America to the streets of North America, yet the drugs continue to feed the addiction of the 5.8 million cocaine users in the United States today. The Unites States has confronted the problem at all levels-- primarily demand reduction, source eradication, and interdiction. While addressing demand and supply are critical to ending the international drug trade, the transit zone countries of Mexico and Central America are caught in a crossfire of widespread violence, corruption, and weakened state security perpetuated by this multi-billion dollar drug industry. The situation in the region has regressed beyond criminal activity to a drug-fueled state of siege--a criminal insurgency, which has directly threatened the lawfulness and security of transit zone countries. This paper examines the drug war in Central America and Mexico, highlighting its similarities to other insurgencies, and offers ideas on how to apply counterinsurgency doctrine to influence the effort to deny secure transshipment points to drug cartels. In doing so, this paper highlights both the intellectual and physical linkages between the commonly accepted military history of insurgencies and the history of the fight against drug trafficking organizations. To that end the United States, Mexico, and Central America need to challenge drug trafficking organizations and gangs through a regional counterinsurgency strategy that denies impunity for drug cartels, and enables Central American and Mexican governments to reestablish the legitimacy of their governing and legal institutions and regain control over all of their territory for the long term.CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION * CHAPTER 2 - BRIEF HISTORY OF CONFLICT AND DRUG TRAFFICKING: THE ROAD TO TODAY'S DILEMMA * Generations of Conflict and Drug Trafficking: a Training Ground for Criminals * Squeezing the Balloon: Central America and Mexico Become DTO's Preferred Route * CHAPTER 3 - DRUG CARTELS, DRUG GANGS, AND INSURGENCIES * Defining Criminal Insurgency * Three Phases of Insurgency and the DTO Connection * Linking Drug Gangs and Insurgency * Mexican Drug Cartels: The Criminal-Insurgency Leadership * Lessons from Colombia's Insurgency * CHAPTER 4 - DEFEATING THE DTOS: A UNIFIED COIN APPROACH * Aligning Drug Control Strategy with COIN Doctrine * The Merida Initiative: Unprecedented Cooperation in Need of a Full Commitment * CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS * Central America and Mexico's History Provides Key Roots of Today's Dilemma * DTO and Gang Links to Insurgency Provide a New Lens to View the Problem * Colombia's Insurgency Offers Applicable Lessons for Central America and Mexico * Drug Control Strategy and COIN Doctrine Need to be Leveraged * BIBLIOGRAPHY

Deviant Globalization

Deviant Globalization

Author: Nils Gilman

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2011-03-24

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 1441178104

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Book Synopsis Deviant Globalization by : Nils Gilman

Download or read book Deviant Globalization written by Nils Gilman and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-03-24 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: >

Convergence

Convergence

Author: Michael Miklaucic

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 9781461937029

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Book Synopsis Convergence by : Michael Miklaucic

Download or read book Convergence written by Michael Miklaucic and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Drug Trafficking, Corruption and States

Drug Trafficking, Corruption and States

Author: Luis Jorge Garay Salamanca

Publisher:

Published: 2015-05-19

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781491759172

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Drug Trafficking, Corruption and States is cutting edge research. Garay Salamanca and Salcedo-Albarán, along with their contributing authors help document the transition from economic to political imperatives within transnational drug cartels. The break from the Zetas by La Familia Michoacana is one example contained in their empirical survey. Social Network Analysis is their tool for illuminating the varying dynamics of cartel-state inter-penetration and reconfiguration. In doing so they clearly discern between State Capture (StC) and Co-opted State Reconfiguration (CStR). As the drug wars and criminal insurgencies rage in the Americas and beyond, this seminal framework will facilitate efforts by scholars, law enforcement officials, intelligence analysts and policymakers to understand shifts in sovereignty, and to illuminate the mechanisms of transnational illicit networks and their interaction with the state.


Book Synopsis Drug Trafficking, Corruption and States by : Luis Jorge Garay Salamanca

Download or read book Drug Trafficking, Corruption and States written by Luis Jorge Garay Salamanca and published by . This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drug Trafficking, Corruption and States is cutting edge research. Garay Salamanca and Salcedo-Albarán, along with their contributing authors help document the transition from economic to political imperatives within transnational drug cartels. The break from the Zetas by La Familia Michoacana is one example contained in their empirical survey. Social Network Analysis is their tool for illuminating the varying dynamics of cartel-state inter-penetration and reconfiguration. In doing so they clearly discern between State Capture (StC) and Co-opted State Reconfiguration (CStR). As the drug wars and criminal insurgencies rage in the Americas and beyond, this seminal framework will facilitate efforts by scholars, law enforcement officials, intelligence analysts and policymakers to understand shifts in sovereignty, and to illuminate the mechanisms of transnational illicit networks and their interaction with the state.

Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command

Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command

Author: James G. Stavridis

Publisher: NDU Press

Published: 2014-02-23

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13:

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Since its creation in 1963, United States Southern Command has been led by 30 senior officers representing all four of the armed forces. None has undertaken his leadership responsibilities with the cultural sensitivity and creativity demonstrated by Admiral Jim Stavridis during his tenure in command. Breaking with tradition, Admiral Stavridis discarded the customary military model as he organized the Southern Command Headquarters. In its place he created an organization designed not to subdue adversaries, but instead to build durable and enduring partnerships with friends. His observation that it is the business of Southern Command to launch "ideas not missiles" into the command's area of responsibility gained strategic resonance throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America, and at the highest levels in Washington, DC.


Book Synopsis Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command by : James G. Stavridis

Download or read book Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command written by James G. Stavridis and published by NDU Press. This book was released on 2014-02-23 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its creation in 1963, United States Southern Command has been led by 30 senior officers representing all four of the armed forces. None has undertaken his leadership responsibilities with the cultural sensitivity and creativity demonstrated by Admiral Jim Stavridis during his tenure in command. Breaking with tradition, Admiral Stavridis discarded the customary military model as he organized the Southern Command Headquarters. In its place he created an organization designed not to subdue adversaries, but instead to build durable and enduring partnerships with friends. His observation that it is the business of Southern Command to launch "ideas not missiles" into the command's area of responsibility gained strategic resonance throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America, and at the highest levels in Washington, DC.

Illicit

Illicit

Author: Moises Naim

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2006-10-10

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 0307278565

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A groundbreaking investigation of how illicit commerce is changing the world by transforming economies, reshaping politics, and capturing governments.In this fascinating and comprehensive examination of the underside of globalization, Moises Naím illuminates the struggle between traffickers and the hamstrung bureaucracies trying to control them. From illegal migrants to drugs to weapons to laundered money to counterfeit goods, the black market produces enormous profits that are reinvested to create new businesses, enable terrorists, and even to take over governments. Naím reveals the inner workings of these amazingly efficient international organizations and shows why it is so hard — and so necessary to contain them. Riveting and deeply informed, Illicit will change how you see the world around you.


Book Synopsis Illicit by : Moises Naim

Download or read book Illicit written by Moises Naim and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2006-10-10 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking investigation of how illicit commerce is changing the world by transforming economies, reshaping politics, and capturing governments.In this fascinating and comprehensive examination of the underside of globalization, Moises Naím illuminates the struggle between traffickers and the hamstrung bureaucracies trying to control them. From illegal migrants to drugs to weapons to laundered money to counterfeit goods, the black market produces enormous profits that are reinvested to create new businesses, enable terrorists, and even to take over governments. Naím reveals the inner workings of these amazingly efficient international organizations and shows why it is so hard — and so necessary to contain them. Riveting and deeply informed, Illicit will change how you see the world around you.

Mortal Doubt

Mortal Doubt

Author: Anthony W. Fontes

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2018-11-06

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0520969596

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The fear of violent crime dominates Guatemala City. In the midst of unprecedented levels of postwar violence, Guatemalans struggle to fathom the myriad forces that have made life in this city so deeply insecure. Born out of histories of state terror, migration, and US deportation, maras (transnational gangs) have become the face of this new era of violence. They are brutal organizations engaged in extortion, contract killings, and the drug trade, and yet they have also become essential to the emergence of a certain kind of social order. Drawing on years of fieldwork inside prisons, police precincts, and gang-dominated neighborhoods, Anthony W. Fontes demonstrates how gang violence has become indissoluble from contemporary social imaginaries and how these gangs provide cover for a host of other criminal actors. Ethnographically rich and unflinchingly critical, Mortal Doubt illuminates the maras’ role in making and mooring collective terror in Guatemala City while tracing the ties that bind this violence to those residing in far safer environs.


Book Synopsis Mortal Doubt by : Anthony W. Fontes

Download or read book Mortal Doubt written by Anthony W. Fontes and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fear of violent crime dominates Guatemala City. In the midst of unprecedented levels of postwar violence, Guatemalans struggle to fathom the myriad forces that have made life in this city so deeply insecure. Born out of histories of state terror, migration, and US deportation, maras (transnational gangs) have become the face of this new era of violence. They are brutal organizations engaged in extortion, contract killings, and the drug trade, and yet they have also become essential to the emergence of a certain kind of social order. Drawing on years of fieldwork inside prisons, police precincts, and gang-dominated neighborhoods, Anthony W. Fontes demonstrates how gang violence has become indissoluble from contemporary social imaginaries and how these gangs provide cover for a host of other criminal actors. Ethnographically rich and unflinchingly critical, Mortal Doubt illuminates the maras’ role in making and mooring collective terror in Guatemala City while tracing the ties that bind this violence to those residing in far safer environs.

Counternetwork

Counternetwork

Author: Angel Rabasa

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2017-01-04

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 0833095323

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Through an analysis of transnational criminal networks originating in South America, this report presents operational characteristics of these networks, strategic alliances they have established, and the multiple threats that they pose to U.S. interests and to the stability of the countries where they operate. It also identifies U.S. government policies and programs to counter these networks and examines the military’s role in that context.


Book Synopsis Counternetwork by : Angel Rabasa

Download or read book Counternetwork written by Angel Rabasa and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2017-01-04 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through an analysis of transnational criminal networks originating in South America, this report presents operational characteristics of these networks, strategic alliances they have established, and the multiple threats that they pose to U.S. interests and to the stability of the countries where they operate. It also identifies U.S. government policies and programs to counter these networks and examines the military’s role in that context.

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Author: Richard Rumelt

Publisher: Currency

Published: 2011-07-19

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0307886239

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Good Strategy/Bad Strategy clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world. Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to—and approach for—overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect. Yet, Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy.” In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, he debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy.” He introduces nine sources of power—ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth—that are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can easily be put to work on Monday morning, and uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007–08 financial crisis. Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.


Book Synopsis Good Strategy Bad Strategy by : Richard Rumelt

Download or read book Good Strategy Bad Strategy written by Richard Rumelt and published by Currency. This book was released on 2011-07-19 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Good Strategy/Bad Strategy clarifies the muddled thinking underlying too many strategies and provides a clear way to create and implement a powerful action-oriented strategy for the real world. Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader. A good strategy is a specific and coherent response to—and approach for—overcoming the obstacles to progress. A good strategy works by harnessing and applying power where it will have the greatest effect. Yet, Rumelt shows that there has been a growing and unfortunate tendency to equate Mom-and-apple-pie values, fluffy packages of buzzwords, motivational slogans, and financial goals with “strategy.” In Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, he debunks these elements of “bad strategy” and awakens an understanding of the power of a “good strategy.” He introduces nine sources of power—ranging from using leverage to effectively focusing on growth—that are eye-opening yet pragmatic tools that can easily be put to work on Monday morning, and uses fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original and pragmatic ideas to life. The detailed examples range from Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from Nvidia to Silicon Graphics, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Cisco Systems to Paccar, and from Global Crossing to the 2007–08 financial crisis. Reflecting an astonishing grasp and integration of economics, finance, technology, history, and the brilliance and foibles of the human character, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy stems from Rumelt’s decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.

The Shock Doctrine

The Shock Doctrine

Author: Naomi Klein

Publisher: Metropolitan Books

Published: 2010-04-01

Total Pages: 721

ISBN-13: 1429919485

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The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global "free market" has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq In her groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq. At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years.


Book Synopsis The Shock Doctrine by : Naomi Klein

Download or read book The Shock Doctrine written by Naomi Klein and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 721 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global "free market" has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq In her groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq. At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years.