Narcoland Analysis

Improved Essays
The War on Drugs is One Big Lie
In Anabel Hernandez’s, Narcoland, she gives readers a firsthand look at her five years of taxing research which has led to the discovery of numerous misconceptions about the drug war and the American drug trade. This essay exposes and debunks three of many misconceptions. First, it exposed and debunked the well-known escape of Chapo Guzman from prison and government officials letting Chapo walk free. Second, The murder of journalist Manuel Buendia, by the Federal Security Directorate. Third, How the Mexico has intertwined itself with drug trade, and what U.S. intelligence knows.
In chapter seven, The Great Escape, Hernandez investigates and debunks El Chapo's escape from Puente Grande January 21, 2001, clearing reports that he escaped in a laundry cart. Instead, she writes, “Dressed
…show more content…
Hernandez associated his murder to information related to drug trafficking and the CIA’s part in the 1980’s. The CIA and Mexican drug traffickers, “”between 1981-1984, Manuel Buendia received information regarding Guatemalan Guerillas and an operations training camp being conducted by the American CIA, using FS as a cover in case any questions were raised…”(loc 942-959) Buendia going to authorities ultimately resulted in his death. The same authorities he went to ended up murdering him. Zorillia, head of the DFS was suppose to be protecting Buendia and his family. Forty-one days later, Manuel Buendia and his source were murdered.(loc 959) Interestingly enough Hernandez discloses a DEA agent aided with authenticating her suspicion to explore and report on the activities of Guzman and the drug trade in Mexico and their involvement with the US Government. “Narcoland shows how contemporary capitalism is in no position to renounce the mafia. Because it is not the mafia that has transformed itself into a modern capitalist enterprise–it is capitalism that has transformed itself into a mafia.” (loc

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Summary Of Drug Crazy

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The very mention of drugs summons demonic images: needles, babies addicted at birth, violence. No issue generates such a visceral reaction in people like the topic of drugs. In Mike Gray’s book “Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out,” his analysis of the drug war in America explores the mass hysteria surrounding addiction that was nourished with misinformation. Based on the history Gray has compiled, coupled with modern studies, the drug war appears to be a lost cause, now and into the foreseeable future. In 1909, Dr. Hamilton Wright was appointed as the third U.S delegate to the International Opium Commission at Shanghai and became “personally responsible for shaping the international narcotics laws as we know them today.”…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The media provides us with facts in a suggestive way at times. The current hot topic of heroin overdose has played a large role in some citizen’s views of immigrants because, as mentioned earlier, there always needs to be someone to blame. As Alcabes notes in one section, “Donald Trump portrays immigrants as these diseased individuals who are bringing illegal drugs into our country” (Alcabes 8) – leave this as a direct quote, it’s powerful and there’s really no way to summarize. While there may be some truth behind immigrants smuggling drugs into the United States, the writer suggests the problem is much deeper. Here lies the paradox: we do not want drugs to go away completely, but we tend to believe if they were that our nation would be a better place to live (Alcabes 9).…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Like the war on terrorism, the fight to control these illicit markets pits governments against agile, stateless, and resourceful networks empowered by globalization”. Naím explains how drugs and the sale of drugs can not only affect the people but also the whole society and government. It’s hard to but borders on people that does not have any kind of boundaries. In the Cocaine Cowboys, it started off with two Latina men being shot dead in a liquor store due to cartel activities and everyone knew it was the cocaine boys. Drugs and crime goes hand in hand as explained by John Roberts in the documentary.…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This quote exemplifies the dichotomy of the situation in the region; the government aimed to cease violence but instead exacerbated violence in an environment occupied with impunity, corruption, and aggression. Threatened by the increase of aggression on the border, in 2008, the United States launched the Merida Initiative, which provides the Mexican government with US security forces along with high-end military equipment, ranging from helicopters to surveillance technology (Quinones, 2009; 18). However, even with aid provided by the US, the cartels still outgunned the Mexican Army—a response to Calderon’s war with extreme savagery. “The problem isn’t individuals; it’s systematic” (Quinones, 2009; 18). The Mexican government failed in its…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Before his career in the cocaine trade, Pablo Escobar came from modest beginnings. Born on December 1st, 1949, Pablo lived as many South Americans had. Living most of his pre-cartel life in Antioquia, Columbia, Escobar showed ambition at a young age, often telling his friends he would one day become president of Columbia. This sentiment seems to foreshadow his long campaign of narcoterrorism. From humble beginnings to being strewn across a rooftop, Escobar left behind a legacy matched by no other crime lords.…

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    So far this paper has looked at the definitions of terrorism from scholars and official bodies. These definitions are wide and different, but they seem to include similar themes. Next, the paper explored the current state of affairs in Mexico and how cartels continue to operate. There are more than half a dozen large cartels working within the country, and a brief background on each has prepared for a thorough examination. To fully determine if cartels are terrorist organizations, the paper will look at the relation to known terrorist organizations in the past, the political motivations of a group, and their ability to instill fear with widespread violence.…

    • 1737 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Drug Lord Pablo Escobar

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Pablo Escobar was a Colombian drug lord and leader of one of the fiercest structures ever put together. Pablo came from a family with limited means. He lived with both his parents, his father was a farmer, and his mother was teacher. As a child, Escobar started out as a small-time thief. Sandblasting tombstones and reselling them, later he started stealing cars.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Faustina Remaniak CHE 108 Essay Drug Trafficking “The ambition and focus that propel you to success can also be your downfall.” Power and wealth have been the downfall of men since the beginning of time. Drug trafficking is a global illicit trade that has become the number one cause of deaths in the United States. Pablo Escobar was a notorious drug Lord during the 1970-1990’s who became famous for his illegal activities in Drug Trafficking.…

    • 1843 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pablo Escobar had always dreamt of riches and glory, but in his early days the extent of his crimes amounted to petty thefts and scams along with the smuggling of contraband. His relationship with cocaine first began with him personally smuggling the substance from Colombia to Panama; within seven years he was in control of the world’s largest, wealthiest, and most violent cartel. Its closest rival, the quieter and more sophisticated Cali cartel, run by the Orejuela brothers, paled in comparison—but together, they accounted for eighty percent of the world’s cocaine by the mid 1990s. Despite the success of the booming drug industry itself, the economy of Colombia suffered because the drug industry had negative consequences on factors such as employment, land ownership, money laundering, and income equality.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mexican Drug Crisis Essay

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The drug cartels have engaged in wrongful acts intended to instill fear, promote corruption, and subvert democratic governance by undercutting confidence in government. Over the past centuries, Mexico has come into the power of other countries like the Spanish and the French rule until they were thrown out in 1867 (Knowles, 2008, p.74). That power would eventually pass to a political party called the PRI that stabilize Mexico during the last decades, but it would then go downhill from there because it started to become an autocratic oligarchy. This basically means that a small group of people have the absolute control over the country. Therefore, Mexico’s affluent people would use the institutions of government to their advantage to merge power and wealth into their own hands.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Illegal drugs are one of the many issues in our world today; however, it has become a major problem for Mexico in recent years. I chose this topic because I hate seeing countries be destroyed by violence in consequence of illegal drugs, and I intend to discover why Mexico is so deeply embroiled in that malicious world. Therefore, to accomplish this goal, I will search the internet for news articles, documentaries, speeches and any other sources that discuss Mexico’s drug problem in depth. After completing my research, I expect to be able to clearly inform others about this…

    • 99 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mexican Drug War Analysis

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages

    For years Mexico has faced the unwinnable drug war, whether measured the increased of public safety, reduced supply of illegal drugs on the U.S. market, or dismantling drug on trafficking organizations, the war on drugs is failing. Has been years since the announcement of several thousands of soldiers were sent to the streets to procrastinate the minimization of the war. The results have been to known complaints of the human rights abuse by the Mexican patrol and armed force. The tribe to arrests drug kingpins and less figures have set off to violent wars, that is to say Mexico’s war is unwinnable.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pablo Escobar Outline

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I. Introduction A. Think for a second, have you ever wanted something so bad that made you do wrong action? B. Pablo Escobar was born in Medellin, Colombia. He came from a rural family. Even though many people believe that he did not have heart, he cared so much for his family well being.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Organized Crime In Mexico

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages

    An Assessment of the Initial Conditions of the War against Organized Crime in Mexico,” wrote about the war against organized crime in Mexico. He says that most of the organized crime in Mexico has to do with the drug trade, which has been ongoing in the country for decades. The most well known drug cartels in Mexico include “La Familia”, the “Sinaloa”, the “Zetas”, the “Tijuana”, and the “Juarez” cartel. The drug trafficking dates back to the 1980s when the Colombian cartels contracted with the Mexican cartels to move their cocaine into the United States and in return, the Mexicans would take part of the drugs and sell them on their own.…

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Cartels also careful consider the threat of entry, particularly because the Mexican smuggling manifested into a national network at the height of narcotics use in the 10960s and 1970s (Grillo, 2013). Again, this was only possible by ensuring there were adequate control over supply and/or distribution channels. In the world of selling narcotics…

    • 1732 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays