CANCELED: The Crisis of Violence in Mexico: from Drug Trafficking to Local Mafias

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

Program on Latin America and the Caribbean

present

The Mexican Violence Crisis: from Drug Trafficking to Local Mafias 

A Talk by Eduardo Guerrero, CEO and Founding Partner at Lantia Consultores 

For over a decade Mexico has faced a daunting security challenge. Murders have grown exponentially and criminal organizations seem to have an ever growing ability to extort rents from a variety of illegal activities throughout the country. Until 2018 the Mexican Government followed a naive strategy. It gave away money to local governments and established formal standards for their law enforcement institutions. However the corruption networks that allowed organized crime to operate in large swaths of the Mexican territory remained intact. Since 2019 Mexico’s left-leaning government is attempting a different approach. In short, it is trying to centralize law enforcement. Results so far are mixed.

Eduardo studied Public Administration at El Colegio de México and Political Science at the University of Delaware and the University of Chicago, where he received the Joseph Cropsey Award. Eduardo has occupied top management positions at the National Security Commission (CNS), the Federal Election Institute (IFE), the Federal Institute of Information Transparency and Access (IFAI) and the Mexican Secretary of Social Development (SEDESOL). In 2008 he founded Lantia Consultores, a leading company in the empirical investigation of public security, organized crime and governance in Mexico. Eduardo regularly collaborates in ​El Financiero newspaper, ​Nexos ​magazine and the ​Foro TV ​program “La hora de opinar”, and his work has been featured by the ​The New York Times,​ ​The Wall Street Journal ​and ​The Economist, among other media outlets. His most recent research at ​Lantia Consultores ​focuses on the simultaneous challenges of organized crime related violence and social unrest throughout Mexico. 

Sponsored by Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean (PLACA), International Relations Program, and Department of History.

Hosted By: Jay and Debe Moskowitz Chair in Mexico-US Relations 

Contact Havva Karakas-Keles for more information: hkarakas@syr.edu