Customer Reviews

El Cartel de Sinaloa: Un Historia del Uso Politico del Narco (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you're expecting an academic study you should look elsewhere.

The 'war on drugs' started by felipe calderón, with the blessing of the US government has caused over 30,000 deaths in 4 years and not a lot of progress has been made. No wonder, considering the fact that there is nothing else on the table other than military action --- no education campaigns, no prevention, and of course, not a 'legalization' option.

Should we be waging war against 'drugs' when for example, the US, one of the biggest consumers in the world, has made medical marijuana, legal in 14 states? Why do people end up in drug trafficking? Who are these 'cartels'? Are the spontaneous organizations? Can they be stopped by killing their 'leaders'?

That's what Diego Osorno asks us to think about. He tells a story of human beings that find themselves in different situations -- his interviewees tell stories of corruption, opportunism and hypocrisy. He gives voice to people who are usually simply outcasts. Do we not care to understand where and how people end up where they do?

This book is a very personal account of a man's experience in understanding a phenomenon that has touched his life and that of many others.. I don't think, like other reviewers do, that this man is claiming to be unbiased. He is clearly questioning in this book, and always does in his articles, the strategy followed by the government, in contrast with the causes and context of drug trafficking and its history in Sinaloa.

Someone mentioned you would expect quotes or data... which I found in this book, so I'm not sure what they are reading. They are probably upset at the fact that someone dares to look at things in more progressive way - because the population is sick of this, and they aren't seeing anything but raises in gas, and food, and yep... war.

No real reporter can claim to be unbiased. And I don't recall Diego Osorno doing it in his book.


I liked it - so I recommend it.

I really enjoyed the reading. It is a better source of critical thinking on drugs in Mexico than most of the book that are now circulating in English.

From the foreword you get the same story over and over again: the strategy taken by Felipe Calderón of a crackdown on drug cartels is wrong. But it doesn't build a strong argument. It repeats what you hear in the news everyday: it's a bloodbath, but mentions few or no sources and recurs to politically correct ideas like legalization, but it doesn't go deep to develop the idea.

The author claims that as a reporter, he delivers an unbiased story of how Mexican politicians have used drug cartels to their benefit. You would expect a coherent chronic, backed by evidence, full of quotes and reports. Instead you get rumors and folklore. For example, it tells a story about an important politician and businessman in Monterrey who is visited by men from the Sinaloa Cartel with briefcases full of money. The author describes their meeting as if he had had a microphone in the room or was the businessman himself. But you get zero sources and a rant about the untold "narcoculture" from the poor, saying that you have to go beyond official media to understand and get the truth.

Truth is, the book could be a draft for a novel. But it's far from being plausible, coherent and honest.