Nilda M. Garcia - Mexicos Drug War and Criminal Networks: The Dark Side of Social Media

Mexicos Drug War and Criminal Networks examines the effects of technology on three criminal organizations: the Sinaloa cartel, the Zetas, and the Caballeros Templarios.

Using social network analysis, and analyzing the use of web platforms Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, Nilda M. Garcia provides fresh insights on the organizational network, the central nodes, and the channels through which information flows in these three criminal organizations. In doing so, she demonstrates that some drug cartels in Mexico have adopted the usage of social media into their strategies, often pursuing different tactics in the search for new ways to dominate. She finds that the strategic adaptation of social media platforms has different effects on a criminal organizations ability to survive. When used effectively, coupled with the adoption of decentralized structures, these platforms do increase a criminal organizations survival capacity. Nonetheless, if used haphazardly, they can have the opposite effect.

Drawing on the fields of criminology, social network analysis, international relations, and organizational theory, and featuring a wealth of information about the drug cartels themselves, Mexicos Drug War and Criminal Networks will be a great source for all those interested in the presence, behavior, purposes, and strategies of drug cartels in their forays into social media platforms in Mexico and beyond.

Nilda M. Garcia is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Political Science Department at Texas A & M International University. She teaches courses in international politics, foreign policy, American and State government, political economy of development, and drug trafficking. Her research interests include organized crime, drug trafficking, international relations, and security studies.

For information about the series: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Advances-in-International-Relations-and-Global-Politics/book-series/IRGP

The Dark Side of Social Media

Nilda M. Garcia

First published 2020

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ISBN: 978-0-367-33496-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-32030-9 (ebk)

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There is a dark side to social media. Technology, the internet, and social media platforms have transformed the way we communicate. These communication outlets have made it possible for individuals from around the world to connect almost instantly, and to freely express their opinions or report virtually anything. The web is still a highly unregulated space where users can maintain complete anonymity, and it is nowadays highly accessible to everyone with internet access, including terrorists and criminal organizations (COs).

The rapid increase in the use of social media during the war on drugs in Mexico, especially in the first decades of the twenty-first century, has stimulated a growing research agenda. To date, this scholarship has focused primarily on investigating the opportunities social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube offer to civilians as organizing mechanisms, to fill the informational vacuum left by the tightly self-censored mainstream media outlets, and as a tool for survival. Yet, the use of these platforms has taken a darker, more sinister turn. Research exploring the use of social media platforms in Mexico has not emphasized the fact that these communication outlets provide major opportunities for drug cartels or criminal organizations to engage in public relations strategies, ease their recruitment tactics, send threatening messages to government authorities and civilians, and warn off potential rivals.

The drug war in Mexico is one of the most brutal conflicts in the world with about 332,000 drug-related homicides since 2006 (Caldern, Heinle, Rodrguez Ferreira, & Shirk, 2019). Despite the declared victories from the government, the strategy followed by Felipe Caldern (20062012) and by the Pea Nieto administration (20122018) to combat the drug cartels was far from successful. We are yet to evaluate the drug policy approach of current president Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador. Indicators of violence, however, demonstrate that 2019 will close as the most violent year, with the highest homicide rate of the last 25 years. Notwithstanding the efforts of these administrations, domestic security remains difficult to achieve because of the highly volatile, violent, and extremely competitive environment in which some criminal organizations like the Sinaloa cartel or the Zetas have managed to not only survive, but also grow in influence, size, and power more than other criminal organizations during the years of this study. The landscape of drug trafficking in Mexico is constantly changing, giving rise to newer and stronger organizations which have gained momentum. One such is the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin (CJNG), considered the main contender to the Sinaloa cartel, and another the Cartel del Noreste (CDN), which originated from the Zetas (now Zetas Old School), becoming its own cartel in 2018.

Since the militarization of the war on drugs in 2006, the media has played an important role in the conflict. Both the government and the drug cartels have for years controlled the flow of information from mainstream media outlets, using it strategically for propaganda purposes. In order to block the criminal organizations from taking advantage of the media exposure, 715 Mexican media channels signed an agreement in 2011 to censor reports about the drug war and to follow particular editorial criteria when informing the public about organized crimerelated violence. In some areas affected by the hyper-violence triggered by the drug war, social media has been used by the citizenry as an alternative outlet to get information about shootings or blockades by cartels. At the same time, some drug trafficking organizations also embrace these web-based platforms as alternative channels of communication to support their enterprises.