Twelfth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Mexican drug organizations began more than a century ago, primarily fueled by the emergence of black markets created from American anti-drug laws. Despite bilateral attempts to bring these organizations down, the cartels have flourished. This study explores how Mexican cartels have steadily expanded over the decades. The more force brought down on the cartels, the more violence has erupted, with cartel-related deaths now registering in the tens of thousands every year in Mexico. When the strategy moved to combat cartels economically, the cartels simply diversified their portfolios, expanding their economic reach by squeezing fees from local businesses and residents. Cartels began kidnapping, extortion, piracy, and human smuggling shortly after the enactment of NAFTA. Avocado farmers in Michoacán have been one of the main targets of cartel extortion, but the extortion expanded to include limes, papayas, strawberries, mangos, and almost every exportable agricultural product out of Mexico. These farmers live in fear of a call from an unknown number demanding money or learning family members have gone missing.