Neoliberalism and the origin of the Mexican cartels

[Mr. Piccolo]

Jacobin recently featured an informative article on how neoliberalism helped to create the Mexican drug cartels. I thought this would be an interesting subject to discuss as there seems to be much mystification about the origin of the Mexican cartels in the mainstream media.

See article:https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/03/mexico-drug-cartel-neoliberalism/

[John Nada]

Admitting that imperialism enabled the drug cartels to emerge is noticeably absent in the MSM. Liberals might talk about decriminalization or even legalization of drugs, conservatives pull out the usually racist/xenophobic shit. Like with the massive increase of refugees from Central America. Barely any mention of the US-back coup in Honduras.

The connection between imperialism and the drug trade in Mexico goes back even further. The US imported opium from Mexico during WWII for medicine. Previously Mexico was a major supplier of illicit opium. Right after the war, this continued, though this time it was converted into heroin instead. Heroin addiction went from nearly extinct in the US to rising in the late 40's-50's.

Another thing that helped the drug cartels was the market "reforms" and outright capitalist restoration in the Eastern Bloc. China, east Germany and Czechoslovakia were major producers of methamphetamine precursors. These precursors were then exported. Methamphetamine rise coincides with all this.

[Bala Perdida]

Admitting that imperialism enabled the drug cartels to emerge is noticeably absent in the MSM. Liberals might talk about decriminalization or even legalization of drugs, conservatives pull out the usually racist/xenophobic shit. Like with the massive increase of refugees from Central America. Barely any mention of the US-back coup in Honduras.

The connection between imperialism and the drug trade in Mexico goes back even further. The US imported opium from Mexico during WWII for medicine. Previously Mexico was a major supplier of illicit opium. Right after the war, this continued, though this time it was converted into heroin instead. Heroin addiction went from nearly extinct in the US to rising in the late 40's-50's.

Another thing that helped the drug cartels was the market "reforms" and outright capitalist restoration in the Eastern Bloc. China, east Germany and Czechoslovakia were major producers of methamphetamine precursors. These precursors were then exported. Methamphetamine rise coincides with all this.
A lot of the meth that cartels move is produced in Mexico. Also cartels have their history in the prohibition too. Although a lot of drug trafficking before the late 80's was also small compared to the compared to the Colombian operations. They moved pretty freely under the PRI dictatorship, then they got violent after the elections kicked off a more widespread bourgeois democracy.

[Antiochus]

Nothing really new. Capitalism created the modern mafia in western Sicily in the 19th century. Basically big powerful land owners and petit-bourgeoisie paying what was formally (largely) unorganized bandits and hired mercenaries money to defend and expand their property.

Which is why the whole "awakening" of the lumpen is an absolute joke but I won't get into that argument again.

This is off course to be expected. Poor, relatively 'lawless' and historically feudal regions are prime breeding grounds for organized crime, which usually follows a feudal "production" relations within their organization.

[John Nada]

A lot of the meth that cartels move is produced in Mexico. Also cartels have their history in the prohibition too. Although a lot of drug trafficking before the late 80's was also small compared to the compared to the Colombian operations. They moved pretty freely under the PRI dictatorship, then they got violent after the elections kicked off a widespread bourgeois democracy.Democracy for whom?;)

Cannabis and heroin were pretty big compared to Colombia. However the 80's-90's neo-liberal "reforms" did drive a lot of farmers to "other" crops. Also drove a lot of farmers to try to "illegally" cross an imaginary line, with thousands dying either of exposure or murdered in the middle of nowhere. This also doesn't make the news as much. It's as atrocious as the police lynchings. And ephedrine(meth precursor) is mostly made in China, Germany and India, for asthma and stuffy noses.
Nothing really new. Capitalism created the modern mafia in western Sicily in the 19th century. Basically big powerful land owners and petit-bourgeoisie paying what was formally (largely) unorganized bandits and hired mercenaries money to defend and expand their property.

Which is why the whole "awakening" of the lumpen is an absolute joke but I won't get into that argument again.

This is off course to be expected. Poor, relatively 'lawless' and historically feudal regions are prime breeding grounds for organized crime, which usually follows a feudal "production" relations within their organization.Chinese triads predate the Italian mafia by centuries. And the modern mafia in it's current incarnation was made after WWII, with origins in it's American counterparts. US used them as anti-communist muscle. They grew into an international organization. Similar with the Yakuza.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Capitalism exists and people want to get high. As long as those two factors remain, so will the illegal drug trade.