El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency
ISBN 1608192113 | |
El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency is a non-fiction book of the Mexican drug war written by Ioan Grillo.[1] In El Narco, Grillo takes a close look at the Mexican drug trade, starting with the term "El Narco", which has come to represent the vast, faceless criminal network of drug traffickers who cast a murderous shadow over Mexico.[2] The book covers the frontline of the Mexican drug war.[3] It seeks to trace the origins of the illegal drug trade in Mexico, the recent escalation of violence, the human cost of the drug trade and organized crime in the country.[4] The book takes a critical stance on the unsuccessful efforts made by the Mexican government and the United States to confront the violence and its causes.[4][5]
Grillo's book draws a portrait of the
In the British edition, published in September 2011, the book bore the subtitle, "The Bloody Rise of Mexican Drug Cartels". The US edition came out two months later, bearing a different subtitle. A Spanish-language version of the book titled "El narco: En el corazón de la insurgencia criminal mexicana" has also been released.[7]
Author's background
Ioan Grillo is an English journalist and author of the book El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency.
According to the biography section in his official webpage, Grillo grew up in the coastal city of
Book's excerpts
- Excerpt 1
The following excerpt from the book is set in Culiacán, capital city of the Sinaloa, the northwestern state that is home to the Sinaloa Cartel and is known as the "cradle of Mexican drug smuggling":[3]
Twenty seconds of shooting. Four hundred and thirty-two bullets. Five dead policemen.
Four of the corpses sprawl over a shiny-new Dodge Ram pickup truck that has been pierced by so many caps it resembles a cheese grater. The cadavers are twisted and contorted in the unnatural poses of the dead; arms arch backward over spines, legs spread out sideways; the pattern of bodies that fall like rag dolls when bullets strike.
After arriving at too many murder scenes, I often felt numb staring at the lead-filled flesh spread out on the concrete, dirt roads and car seats. The images all blur into one. But then little details come back: the twists of elbows over backs, heads over shoulders. It is these patterns that come into my mind when I think about the murder scenes; and these patterns then filter into bad dreams when I am sleeping in a bed a thousand miles away.
This particular crime scene is on a sweaty December evening in Culiacán, Sinaloa. The state policemen had hit a red stop light next to a shopping center when the triggermen attacked. BANG. BANG. BANG. The assassins shoot from the side and back unleashing bullets in split seconds. A customized Kalashnikov with a circular clip can unload 100 rounds in 10 seconds. This is lightning war. People tend to shudder at the fact that Mexican gangsters have rocket-propelled grenades. But the AK-47 is far more lethal."[3]
- Excerpt 2
Below is an excerpt from Time magazine published on October 23, 2011. It is the confession of a cartel member that is imprisoned:[13]
It all seemed like a bad dream.
It may have been vivid and raw. But it felt somehow surreal, like Gonzalo was watching these terrible acts from above. Like it was someone else who had firefights with ski-masked federal police in broad daylight. Someone else who stormed into homes and dragged away men from crying wives and mothers. Someone else who duct-taped victims to chairs and starved and beat them for days. Someone else who clasped a machete and began to hack off their craniums while they were still living. But it was all real.
He was a different man when he did those things, Gonzalo tells me. He had smoked crack cocaine and drunk whisky every day, had enjoyed power in a country where the poor are so powerless, had a latest model truck and could pay for houses in cash, had four wives and children scattered all over ... had no God. "In those days, I had no fear. I felt nothing. I had no compassion for anybody," he says, speaking slowly, swallowing some words.[13]
- Excerpt 3
The
Alongside other veterans, Daniel would buzz around the state in a helicopter carrying an M16 automatic rifle and raiding marijuana plantations. Most were run by Mexicans and located inside national parks and forests and included some huge farms with up to twelve thousand plants. During one bust, some thugs from Michoacán fired at them with Kalashnikovs. "I was getting close to the plantation and they fired. We hit the ground first, kneeling down and we fired back, and they were gone. These people have balls, they are crazy." Daniel's next job was in the U.S. Customs Service busting runners as they came over the border. Because of the huge quantity of traffic at Tijuana-San Diego, agents can only toss a tiny percentage of vehicles. So the key for Daniel and other agents was to try to read people and smell who was dirty. Daniel found he had a special talent for spotting smugglers. "It is like a sense. I look at them and see if the person that is driving does not match the car or the car does not match the person. I get close up to their face and say, 'How are you doing?' And if you're carrying a bunch of money or drugs, I'm going to get all over your ass."[14]
Critical reception
According to
Tim Padgett of Time magazine noted that Grillo "explores that world as deeply as few journalists have dared"; nonetheless, Padgett said that the historical context of the book not only indicts "Mexican and Latin American politicos but U.S. policymakers as well".
Reforma, a Mexican newspaper, said that Grillo used the "closest information possible to his object of work", which means that he ran through serious "threats" to get his work done.[20] Due to Grillo's experience and professionalism, Reforma argues that El Narco is both "horrifying and useful".[20] The San Antonio Express-News claims that the book "delivers the first authoritative and comprehensive examination" of the mafia killings in Mexico.[21] The newspaper explains that Grillo's book can help readers "understand the homicidal madness just across the river".[21] It concluded by comparing the book with a "big canvas" that traces the rise of the Mexican drug trafficking organizations from the quaint 19th-century origins.[21] The New Yorker wrote a review for El Narco and noted that the reading was "terrific—full of vivid front-line reporting; diverse interviews; a sense of history; a touch of social science; clarifying statistics; and realistic reviews of what might be done to improve things, none of it easy".[22] The magazine said it is an "essential reading". It argued that it is America's "weak control of automatic weapons" and its "supply [of] guns and money" that fuel the bloodshed in Mexico.[22] The Globe Corner Bookstore said that El Narco "draws the first definitive portrait of Mexico's drug cartels and how they have radically transformed in the last decade".[23] In addition, it mentioned that "the devastation may be south of the Rio Grande, but America is knee-deep in this conflict."[23] The Independent noted that Grillo and his book have "achieved extraordinary access to gangsters and police (often the same people)".[24] And, the author shows how the Mexican drug cartels originated in the western state of Sinaloa, where the conditions for growing opium poppy were ideal, in the late 19th century.[24] The New York-based magazine known as the Bookforum said that several books have been written in Spanish about Mexico's drug war, but Grillo's book is perhaps the "first attempt in English for a popular audience".[25] The magazine noted that Grillo has spent years traveling to Mexico's drug war hotspots: "Sinaloa, Michoacán, Ciudad Juárez—recording interviews with cops and narcos, visiting grave sites and murder scenes".[25] Bookforum concludes that Grillo's book was an attempt to dig more and beyond the "reigning mythology of the Mexican drug war".[25]
Awards and nominations
- BBC News gave Grillo the "BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week" award for El Narco.[32]
- The Guardian nominated the book for The Guardian First Book Award 2011.[33]
- Los Angeles Times nominated El Narco as a finalist for their Book Prize in 2011.[34]
References
- ^ a b c d e Singal, Jesse (December 15, 2011). "'El Narco by Ioan Grillo". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ "'El Narco': The Trade Driving Mexico's Drug War". NPR. October 25, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ a b c "A War Fought by Assassins: Ioan Grillo on Mexico's Crime Scenes". InSight Crime. November 22, 2011. Archived from the original on November 26, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ a b "El Narco": A discussion with journalist and author Ioan Grillo". Washington Office on Latin America. Archived from the original on December 27, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ "El narcotráfico, según Ioan Grillo". Diario de Yucatan (in Spanish). Retrieved January 28, 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c "El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency, Description". IndieBound. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ "Insurgencia a la mexicana". Proceso (in Spanish). June 4, 2012. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
- ^ "Ioan Grillo at the 2011 Texas Book Festival". Texas Book Festival. Archived from the original on December 28, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ Meyer, Lorenzo (September 8, 2011). "El narco según Ioan Grillo". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ^ Bloomsbury Press. Archived from the originalon May 11, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ "Ioan Grillo". New York Journal of Books. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ISBN 9781608195046. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ a b Grillo, Ioan (October 23, 2011). "The Narco-Killer's Tale: Confessions of a Justified Sinner". Time. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b "El Narco: Dying for nothing". GlobalPost. October 25, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ a b "Book Review: El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency by Ioan Grillo". Blogcritics. January 19, 2012. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e "Advance Praise for El Narco". Bloomsbury Publishing. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b "El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency". Powell's Books. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ Bloomsbury Press. Archived from the originalon July 8, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b Sibree, Bron (April 24, 2012). "Book Review: El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency". The West Australian. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b Grillo, Ioan. "El Narco book in Reforma" (in Spanish). El Narco Book by Ioan Grillo. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b c MacCormack, John (November 10, 2011). "Inside the Mexican drug war". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b Coll, Steve (November 10, 2011). "Comment: Whose Drug War?". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b "El Narco: Inside Mexico'S Criminal Insurgency". Globe Corner Bookstore. Archived from the original on June 26, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b Thumson, Hugh (February 28, 2012). "El Narco, By Ioan Grillo". The Independent. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b c Quinones, Sam. "Touch of Evil". Bookforum. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ Gordon, Ian (October 25, 2011). "Book Review: El Narco". Mother Jones. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ Salon. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ a b c Longmire, Sylvia. "Book Review: "El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency", by Ioan Grillo". Mexico's Drug War. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ a b Fantz, Ashley (January 22, 2012). "Saldo por el combate al narcotráfico: muerte por un negocio millonario" (in Spanish). CNNMéxico. Archived from the original on January 23, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ a b "Edward's Reviews, El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency". Goodreads. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ a b c "Chronicle Review: Mexico's Drug War Three Perspectives". Borderland Beat. March 14, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ Waters, Jill (January 2012). "BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week". BBC News. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ "The Guardian first book award submissions 2011". The Guardian. July 11, 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ "2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalists announced". Los Angeles Times. February 21, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
External links
- Ioan Grillo's web page
- Book Review: El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency Archived July 19, 2012, at the Bloomsbury Press