Terrorist Tactics by Criminal Organizations: The Mexican Case in Context (original) (raw)

Organized crime, terrorism, or insurgency? Reflections on Mexico

Los desafíos de la globalización: respuestas desde América Latina y la Unión Europea, 2021

The phenomenon of organized crime in Mexico is not new. However, it is no less true that, for a few years now, violence caused by or related to criminal organizations has been registering higher levels than ever. This has caused, from different spheres, to wonder if indeed the problem facing the country can still be called organized crime. Can non-state armed actors in Mexico qualify as terrorists? Have they evolved into some form of insurgency? The author of these pages, after conducting a bibliographic review on the variants of terrorism and insurgency used by some authors to refer to the Mexican case, affirms that Mexican criminal organizations are not terrorists or insurgents, but rather profit-making organizations that make a tactical use of terrorism and / or insurgency to achieve economic benefits or the goals of their organizations.

Is Narco-Violence in Mexico Terrorism?

Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2014

Mexico's drug 'war' produced 100,000 deaths between 2006 and 2012. The extreme violence has raised the notion that Mexico has become a failed state wracked by terrorism. We categorise the forms of narco-violence in Mexico in light of the literature on terrorism and contemporary Mexican politics. Our study suggests three overlapping dimensions of narco-violence that should be considered terrorism: (a) narco-terror as a struggle for regional political control; (b) narco-terror as a practice ordered by cartel leaders rather than spontaneous violence of foot soldiers; and (c) narco-terror as an expansion strategy from solely drug trafficking to other kinds of organised crime.

Bibliography: Terrorism and Organized Crime in Latin America

Perspectives on Terrorism, 2020

This bibliography contains journal articles, book chapters, books, edited volumes, theses, grey literature, bibliographies, and other resources on the intersections of terrorism and organized crime in Latin America. It includes publications on numerous insurgent groups in Latin America that are relevant to studies on the links between terrorism and organized crime in the region. Well-known examples are groups such as the FARC and ELN in Colombia, the Shining Path of Peru, but also Mexican criminal organizations such as the Cártel de Sinaloa (CDS) or the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). Wherever relevant to the terrorism-organized crime nexus, publications on violent gangs and criminal cartels from various other Latin American countries are also included.

Cartel-Related Violence in Mexico as Narco-Terrorism or Criminal Insurgency: A Literature Review

Perspectives on Terrorism, 2020

The inability of the Mexican state to effectively fight against organized crime and to counter the territorial control of entire regions by criminal cartels has led many studies on organized crime in Mexico to new approaches, with many describing the acts of publicly displayed violence by Mexican cartels as Narco-Terrorism. Concerning the enhanced military capacity of many cartels and their territorial control, some scholars have also claimed that Mexico is experiencing a Criminal Insurgency, while others have criticized this classification for its impreciseness and for the consequences that come with it. Much of this debate continues to focus on the extent to which Mexican cartels are profit-driven and nonpolitical, or whether they have become politicized over time. Some studies avoid this controversy by seeing (Narco-)Terrorism as a tactic used by cartels to intimidate politicians and civil society, to demonstrate strength, and to claim territorial control.

Terrorism in Colombia: Logic and Sources of a Multidimensional and Ubiquitous Phenomenon

Terrorism and Political Violence, 2009

This article examines contemporary uses of terrorism in Colombia. Combining an historical analysis with the most complete database available on political violence, we illustrate how terrorism in Colombia constitutes a specific strategy that can be distinguished from other manifestations of violence. We argue that Colombia's non-state armed groups have turned terrorism into a pivotal element of their repertoires of action. These parties have not only increased their reliance on this strategy and introduced more refined forms such as de-territorialized terrorism, but also have specialized in particular terrorist attacks that suit their general objectives. While paramilitary groups rely mostly on massacres and forced disappearance, guerrillas concentrate on agitational terrorism including kidnappings and indiscriminate bombings.

"Terrorism" as an Artifact of Transition in Post-Cold War Latin America

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Terrorism

This chapter surveys accounts of the nature and causes of violence in four Latin American truth commission reports produced from 1984 to 2003 to examine when and how the terms “terrorist” and “terrorism” are used to describe the continent’s Cold War revolutionary actors. It argues that these terms acquired explanatory value only gradually, in a context marked by the defeat of the armed Left, the emergence of a new global order legitimated by appeals to universal human rights, and the marginalization of other potential descriptors for violence. Invocations of “terrorism” can thus be understood as both indexing and foreclosing social and political tensions left unresolved by the application of transitional justice in Latin America, suggesting that one of the prizes of victory in the Cold War was the power to determine what counts as violence and why.

El delito de pertenencia a una organización terrorista en el código penal español

Revista de Estudios de la Justicia, 2011

El delito de pertenencia y los delitos de terrorismo: 1. El concepto de organización terrorista en relación con la conducta de pertenencia; 2. Concursos: a) Infracciones instrumentales: aa) La suma automática de pertenencia e infracciones instrumentales en la jurisprudencia; bb) Pertenencia y ulteriores delitos instrumentales en procedimientos distintos; b) Conspiración (art. 579 CP) e intervención en una infracción instrumental; III. Tipicidad: 1. Títulos de pertenencia: a) Dirigentes e integrantes; b) ¿Integración inactiva?; 2. La conducta de pertenencia: a) Introducción; b) Aplicación; Epílogo.