Research Questions/Intro
This research kit is a collection of primary and secondary sources including pictures, journal entries, song lyrics, and questions to explore the topic of Northern Mexican cartel organizations being urban planners for cities or regions where they hold power and rule. It is important to understand how these Mexican cartels obtain power, how they get people to follow orders, how they rule, and how they can change and urbanize a city or region through “urban planning”.
Narrative/Overview
Before Northern Mexican cartels can become urban planners for the cities and regions that they rule, they first must obtain power and get control of the city or region. The way the cartels do this is very similar for all the cartels trying to obtain power over a region, they use violence and brutality. For example, the Mexican Cartel known as Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), are especially known for being brutally violent in their takeovers and their ruling. CJNG has been known to attack police stations, set police vehicles and equipment on fire, hunting down law officials in their own homes and threatening their families. CJNG has also been known for using airborne drones with IED bombs attached to them. Again, they are flying these explosive drones into police officers and stations, but even local members of the communities. Members of this cartel can be seen flaunting their large number of heavy assault weapons and equipment to the public to instill fear into them. Another Mexican cartel known as the Sinaloa Cartel; has different takeover methods they use. The famous leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, “El Chapo” uses a different approach. While the Sinaloa Cartel does use violence, they are more known for being laidback and less violent than other cartels. The Sinaloa systematically takes over the entire vertical chain of economics in the region.
In order to stay in power, these cartels have a certain way of ruling and making sure the locals follow orders and comply with what the cartel wants. CJNG being known for using horrible violence, obviously using violence and fear to make sure people do not rise against them. Instilling fear in the locals of the communities makes them comply with the rules they have set up. For example, CJNG charges local businesses an extortion fee or a tax that they must pay. This is one of the ways the cartel earns their profit. They also take over all legal and illegal business opportunities. Drug dealing and trafficking, as well as prostitution are two illegal methods of earning money, but they also ran the legal sale and selling of tobacco, alcohol, and tortillas. The Sinaloa cartel takes a different approach to making people follow them. Many people in a Northern Mexican area have accepted the idea that those regions will always be ruled be a cartel. “Moderation of violence and being reasonable about extortion rates have been two elements of Sinaloa’s acceptability to those who have to endure its rule. Moreover, the Sinaloa Cartel has provided other services to local businesses and people, such as keeping away government tax collectors and inspectors. In Acapulco, as a local high-level businessman told me, the Sinaloa Cartel also solved some cases of kidnapping of relatives of businessmen, apprehended the alleged kidnappers, and handed over to authorities.” The Sinaloa Cartel takes advantage of this. Instead of using violence as their main convincing action, they give out extortion rates that are manageable for the locals. For example, they also have been known to keep tax collectors and inspectors that harass local businesses away. The Sinaloa knows that the locals understand that a cartel will always hold power, so they try and make the locals as happy as possible, therefore this prevents uprising in the community and makes the locals pick the Sinaloa Cartel over other cartels.
Now that it is understood how these Mexican cartels obtain power and how they use their power, we can see what they are doing to give back to the local community and how they’ve become urban planners for the region. CJNG although has a violent reputation, they have also done somewhat good things for the communities they rule over. CJNG has adopted a “social handout” method. They give out toys to children, cleaning materials to families during the COVID-19 pandemic, and even give technology to local schools. This cartel has hired unemployed chemists and engineers to not only to move and cook drugs, but to also go into the local communities and take surveys so leaders of the cartel can see what social needs and desires the community has. This can range from more social handouts or the construction of new buildings. Cartels have been known to give back and give social handouts, but the real reason they do this is unknown. However, it can be assumed they do this in order to gain support and loyalty from the locals in the community. The support and loyalty that the locals provide makes cartel operations run more smoothly, effectively, and avoid challenge and conflict from the locals in the community. The Sinaloa Cartel also has done methods like this. The Sinaloa Cartel has worked towards building political capital with different variables such as working with and aiding local businesses to maximize their profits and making sure they stay in business. Also, the Sinaloa Cartel works with social influencers such as local priests, politicians, armed forces, government officials, and government institutions. The relationship they hold with the locals allows them to increase their profits and make the local community happy with things like funding local festivals, funding churches and church authorities, schools, and even to build large scale construction projects like soccer stadiums. They also have been seen giving out aid during the COVID-19 pandemic like food, sanitation, and money to the local community.
After analyzing the different primary and secondary sources, many of the initial questions have been answered about the topic of Northern Mexican cartels acting as urban planners in the communities and regions where they hold power. They obtain power by using violence or being more cooperative than other cartels, they rule with fear or simply making the locals “happy”, and they become urban planners by aiding local communities with new buildings, better businesses, and health relief for the locals.
Primary Sources Annotated Bibliography
“How Mexico’s Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion Rules.” Accessed November 29th, 2022. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-mexicos-cartel-jalisco-nueva-generacion-rules/
This is a primary source that explores the Mexican crime organization known as Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. The source explains how the organization obtains power, maintains its power, how they make their profit, and what they do to the local communities in which they hold power over. This source was very important in my research as it gave me vital information on how this specific cartel operates. This allowed me to understand their methods and their ideologies as I was researching my topic and research questions.
“How the Sinaloa Cartel Rules.” Accessed November 29th, 2022. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-the-sinaloa-cartel-rules/
This is a primary source that explores the Mexican crime organization known as the Sinaloa Cartel. This source explains how the Sinaloa Cartel operates broken down into different variations like how they obtain power, how they keep power, how they obtain revenue, and what they do for the communities they hold power over. This source was helpful in my research as it helped me understand how this specific cartel operates. This information allowed me to be able to answer my research questions and connect this cartel to urban planning.
Tucanes de Tijuana, “El Mas Bravo de los Bravos.”
https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/the-top-5-most-infamous-narco-songs/
This is a primary source that explores the Tijuana Cartel and how they operated through drug trafficking, violence, and corruption. This information is gained through the lyrics of the song. This source was beneficial to my research because it gave me an understanding of how cartels operate, how they can instill fear into people so they make music about them, and how their presence in a region can affect the community and the locals.
“The Narco’s Shadow Looms Over Upcoming Elections in Michoacan.” Accessed December 1st, 2022.
This is a primary source that highlights the bloody, violent nature of the CJNG Cartel. The source also goes into the importance of the upcoming election that CJNG had a large role in persuading many politicians using brutal violence. This source was beneficial for my research as it gave me an understanding on how the CJNG Cartel can take over an election and use violence to get the politics they want. This was helpful in connecting these cartels to becoming urban planners and how they obtain power from the government in a region.
Secondary Sources Annotated Bibliography
“Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG).” Accessed November 29th, 2022. https://insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/jalisco-cartel-new-generation/
This is a secondary source that explores the Mexican crime organization known as the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. This source explains the history of this specific cartel, what regions and territory it holds power over, and its allies and enemies. This source helped me understand a very vast overview of this cartel including the history, enemies and allies, and regions they rule. Using this source and information I was able to answer my research questions and make connections and assumptions on this cartel being urban planners in the regions they rule.
“Sinaloa Cartel.” Accessed November 29th, 2022. https://insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/sinaloa-cartel-profile/
This is a secondary source that explores the Sinaloa Cartel. This source explains the history of the Sinaloa Cartel, what regions and territory it holds power over, and its allies and enemies. This source helped me get a better understanding of the background of the Sinaloa Cartel. This allowed me to use the information from the source to answer my research questions and make connections on this cartel being an urban planner for the cities and regions they rule over.
“The Top 5 Most Infamous Narco-Songs.” Accessed December 1st, 2022. https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/the-top-5-most-infamous-narco-songs/
This is a secondary source that explores the most infamous narco-songs and the background of each song. The source goes into depth on each of the top five most infamous narco-songs including the history of the song, the meaning, and where it came from. This source was helpful in my research as it gave me an understanding of what a narco-song is, how the song lyrics can be used to tell information, and the history of narco-songs.
Glossary
Cartel Jalisco New Generacion: A crime organization that operates out of Mexico. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-mexicos-cartel-jalisco-nueva-generacion-rules/
Sinaloa Cartel: A crime organization that operates out of Mexico. https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-the-sinaloa-cartel-rules/
Narcocorrido’s: A ballad of traditional Mexican music whose lyrics represent and exploit the drug trafficking, also known as “Drug Ballads.”
https://www.npr.org/2009/10/10/113664067/narcocorridos-ballads-of-the-mexican-cartels
Urban Planning: The preparation of for and the regulation and management of towns, cities and metropolitan regions.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/urban-planning
Social Handouts: Money, food, or sanitation supplies given to the locals by the cartel for free. Social handouts were designed to build support among local populations.
https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/how-the-sinaloa-cartel-rules/
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