Abstract

GAUSSENS, Pierre. The Organization of Crime: Criminals and Caciques in Times of the “War on Drugs”. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2020, vol.65, n.240, pp.119-145.  Epub Feb 28, 2021. ISSN 0185-1918.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fcpys.2448492xe.2020.240.70269.

This article seeks to contribute to the analysis of crime and its contemporary evolution in southern Mexico through a critical perspective and a qualitative methodology, based on a case study: the municipality of Ayutla de los Libres on the Costa Chica of Guerrero, where a criminal group operated from 2008 to 2013 in the context of the “war on drugs.” While proving the usefulness of the ethnographic method for the study of crime, field research reveals a local reality that contradicts the dominant discourse on the so called “narco” and, instead, illustrates the depth of the political-criminal nexus that links criminals and officials in the organization of crime.

Keywords : mythology; political-criminal nexus; ethnography; municipality; caciquismo.