De-Manufacturing Consent- “Vigilante Justice in Mexico: Government Corruption, Inaction Revives a Movement”

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/02/03/de-manufacturing-consent-vigilante-justice-in-mexico-government-corruption-inaction-revives-a-movement-2/

Guillermo Jimenez Presents Ioan Grillo On this edition of De-Manufacturing Consent: Guillermo is joined by investigative journalist and author of the book El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency, Ioan Grillo. Guillermo and Ioan discuss the ongoing struggle in Mexico with focus on the state of Michoacan and the rise of “autodefensas” (civilian self-defense groups) that some have compared to the Zapatista movement of the 1990s.
Mr. Grillo describes how a people subjected to brutal violence, kidnapping, extortion, and systematic rape at the hands of organized criminals have come together and begun to do what the federal government is unable or unwilling to do. Grillo provides a brief history of the conflict and how it led to an armed confrontation between the autodefensas, the Cabelleros Templarios (Knights Templar Cartel), and the Mexican military. We also discuss broader issues of “narco culture,” media and the risk of sensationalism, prohibition, marijuana legalization, and the drug war economy.

El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/El-Narco-Mexicos-Criminal-Insurgency/dp/1608194019

The world has watched, stunned, the bloodshed in Mexico. Forty thousand murdered since 2006; police chiefs shot within hours of taking office; mass graves comparable to those of civil wars; car bombs shattering storefronts; headless corpses heaped in town squares. And it is all because a few Americans are getting high. Or is it part of a worldwide shadow economy that threatens Mexico's democracy? The United States throws Black Hawk helicopters, DEA assistance, and lots of money at the problem. But in secret, Washington is at a loss. Who are these mysterious figures who threaten Mexico's democracy? What is El Narco?

El Narco is not a gang; it is a movement and an industry drawing in hundreds of thousands, from bullet-riddled barrios to marijuana-covered mountains. The conflict spawned by El Narco has given rise to paramilitary death squads battling from Guatemala to the Texas border (and sometimes beyond). In this "propulsive ... high-octane" book (Publishers Weekly), Ioan Grillo draws the first definitive portrait of Mexico's cartels and how they have radically transformed in the past decade.