El Narco: The Bloody Rise Of Mexican Drug Cartels

The world has watched the bloodshed in Mexico with shock. Since 2006, over forty thousand have been murdered; police chiefs have been shot within hours of taking office; mass graves reminiscent of civil wars have appeared; storefronts have been shattered by car bombs; and headless corpses are heaped in town squares. The violence is often linked to American drug consumption and a broader shadow economy threatening Mexico's democracy. The United States provides military aid and law enforcement assistance, yet remains uncertain about the key figures behind the violence. El Narco is not merely a gang, but a movement and industry drawing in hundreds of thousands of people from impoverished barrios to mountain regions. The conflict has led to paramilitary death squads operating from Guatemala to the Texas border, fundamentally transforming the landscape of Mexican drug trafficking. This book by Ioan Grillo offers a definitive portrait of Mexico's cartels and their evolution over the past decade.